On Saturday, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, called for the removal of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) from U.S. elections.
Musk, who is also the CEO of SpaceX, made this comment in response to a post by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent presidential candidate, regarding alleged voting irregularities in Puerto Rico’s primary elections involving EVMs.
In a post on X, Kennedy Jr. stated, “Puerto Rico’s primary elections just experienced hundreds of voting irregularities related to electronic voting machines, according to the Associated Press. Luckily, there was a paper trail so the problem was identified and vote tallies corrected. What happens in jurisdictions where there is no paper trail?”
Kennedy Jr. emphasized that U.S. citizens need assurance that every vote is counted and that elections are secure from hacking.
He further advocated for a return to paper ballots to prevent electronic interference in elections.
Responding to Kennedy Jr.’s post on X, Elon Musk suggested that electronic voting machines should be eliminated, citing the risk of hacking by humans or AI, despite it being small, as still too significant.
Musk’s remark has received over 100,000 likes on X, with 20,000 reposts and more than 8,000 reactions.
Among the reactions, one user suggested eliminating mail-in voting and drop boxes as well. Another agreed, claiming that electronic voting machines enable election cheating. A user named Shame Horne remarked that Musk would have been banned from Twitter for election interference if he hadn’t purchased the platform. Another user suggested that electronic voting machines with paper backups and separate tabulators are a good solution. “Each state should have 1 day to count! That’s all it takes,” said another user.
