As the United States presidential election set to be held on November 5, 2024, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, again, raised questions about the use of Electronic Voting Machines or EVMs.

The Tesla CEO said electronic voting machines and anything mailed in is too risky and the country should mandate paper ballots and in-person voting only. It is not first time that Elon Musk is flagging concern over the EVM. The US billionaire, in an X post last month, opined that the EVM could be hacked by humans or artificial intelligence, rekindling an ongoing debates on the reliability of the EVM.

Read More: ‘Hacking’ Accusations, FIR And Elon Musk: EVM Tampering Row Explained

 

Electronic voting machines and anything mailed in is too risky.

We should mandate paper ballots and in-person voting only. pic.twitter.com/TVC32b1Wkd

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 9, 2024

The EVM failure was noted during Puerto Rico’s primary election irregularities, with US presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy pointing out the irregularities they experienced with the machines. According to a report by AP, the problem was proven to be due to a software glitch that was supplied by Dominion Voting Systems to incorrectly calculate vote totals.

However, Elon Musk, while denouncing the EVM and calling for the traditional paper ballot, cited the software issues of the machines supplied by Dominion Voting Systems to substantiate his claim of possible tampering.

The tech maverick’s concern assumes greater significance as the US is set to go to the 47th general election in November this year.

Notably, the remark made by Musk had created waves in India, especially as the ruling BJP was facing serious allegations regarding EVM tampering from the opposition parties. Following Elon Musk’s post raising concern over EVM, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi backed him, saying that EVMs in India are black boxes. BJP leader and former Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar had engaged in an argument with Elon Musk over the authenticity of the EVM in their X handles.

Since the transition to electronic voting machines, there have been allegations of potential misuse in the US. In 2020, the introduction of the Help America Vote Act, or HAVA (2002), marked a major shift in the transition to different types of electronic ballot marking machines, including the Direct Recording Electronic Voting Machines, or DREs, which became the go-to EVM for voting.

Read More: Elon Musk VS Rajeev Chandrashekar: A Dispute Over EVMs

Along with the transition, there was criticism too. Congress, in 2007 released a document that flagged the concerns of potential hackers exploiting the computer.

The issue became a topic of debate after the alleged interference between Russia and analytics firm Cambridge Analytica in the 2016 US election. Mistrust over the EVM grew significantly in the following elections, with even former President Donald Trump urging the return to a paper-based ballot system.