Conspiracy Theory

Alex Jones

person

Alex Jones used his Infowars platform to amplify false claims of election fraud to millions of followers. He promoted the 'Stop the Steal' movement and was present at the January 6 rally preceding the Capitol attack. Jones had previously been ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion in damages for spreading false conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook school shooting, establishing a pattern of promoting dangerous disinformation.

Cyber Ninjas was a Florida-based cybersecurity firm with no election audit experience that was hired by Arizona Senate Republicans to conduct a "forensic audit" of Maricopa County's 2020 election results. The months-long process was widely criticized for lack of transparency and proper methodology. Ironically, the final report found that Biden actually gained votes compared to the official count. The company dissolved shortly after completing the audit, and its CEO was held in contempt of court for refusing to turn over records.

Lin Wood, a previously prominent defamation attorney, filed a series of increasingly outlandish lawsuits challenging election results in Georgia and other states, all of which were dismissed. He promoted conspiracy theories linking voting machine companies to Venezuela and China. Wood was investigated by the State Bar of Georgia and subject to a competency evaluation. His own former law partners described his claims as baseless.

In 2021, Arizona Senate Republicans hired Cyber Ninjas, a firm with no election audit experience, to conduct a "forensic audit" of Maricopa County's 2.1 million ballots. The chaotic process involved searching for bamboo fibers (based on a conspiracy theory about ballots from Asia) and examining ballots under UV light. After months of delays and controversies over methodology, the final report actually found Biden gained 360 more votes than the official count. The audit inadvertently reinforced the legitimacy of the original results.

Michael Flynn

person

Michael Flynn, Trump's former National Security Advisor who had previously pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI (and was pardoned), publicly advocated for Trump to declare martial law and use the military to "rerun" the election in swing states. He promoted QAnon conspiracy theories and appeared at rallies promoting the lie that the election was stolen. No credible evidence supported any of the claims he promoted.

Mike Lindell

person

Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow, became one of the most prolific promoters of debunked conspiracy theories about voting machines. He claimed to have "proof" that Chinese hackers switched votes via Dominion machines — evidence that cybersecurity experts unanimously dismissed as fabricated. Lindell spent millions of his own money promoting these claims and was sued by Dominion Voting Systems for defamation. He offered a $5 million reward to anyone who could disprove his data; a cybersecurity expert won the challenge but Lindell refused to pay.

One America News Network

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One America News Network (OAN) was a right-wing cable network that aggressively promoted debunked election fraud claims, including conspiracy theories about Dominion and Smartmatic voting machines. OAN aired content from figures like Mike Lindell and promoted the discredited Arizona "audit." The network settled a defamation lawsuit with Smartmatic and was dropped by multiple cable carriers. OAN broadcast claims that were uniformly rejected by courts.

Patrick Byrne, former CEO of Overstock.com, funded and participated in efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. He attended a contentious December 2020 White House meeting where participants discussed seizing voting machines and appointing Sidney Powell as a special counsel to investigate fraud. He provided financial backing to various election fraud investigation efforts, none of which produced evidence of widespread fraud.

Sidney Powell filed a series of lawsuits she called "Release the Kraken," claiming Dominion Voting Systems machines were rigged using Venezuelan software to flip votes. Every lawsuit was dismissed for lack of evidence. Powell was sanctioned by a federal judge for filing frivolous lawsuits. She pleaded guilty to reduced charges in the Fulton County, Georgia RICO case related to the fake electors scheme.

Smartmatic is an election technology company that was falsely accused of being connected to Venezuela and involved in rigging the 2020 election. In reality, Smartmatic's technology was only used in Los Angeles County in the 2020 election. The company filed a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, which went to trial. The conspiracy theories linking Smartmatic to Venezuela and election fraud were entirely fabricated.

True the Vote is the organization behind the debunked "2000 Mules" documentary, which claimed to use cell phone geolocation data to prove widespread ballot harvesting. The methodology was rejected by experts, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation found no evidence supporting the claims, and a federal judge sanctioned True the Vote for failing to produce evidence. The film's distributor, Salem Media, pulled the film and apologized. True the Vote's founder was briefly jailed for contempt for refusing to reveal her sources.