SLO County supervisor wants to investigate Dominion voting machines. The board shot her down
Supervisor Debbie Arnold tried to revive a debunked election theory at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, asking the board to schedule a discussion about Dominion voting machines after a handful of people shared concerns about the San Luis Obispo County’s vote-tallying processes.
The motion went nowhere, however, when the board majority promptly shot it down, with Supervisors Bruce Gibson, Dawn Ortiz-Legg and Jimmy Paulding voting no. Supervisor John Peschong voted in favor.
Why resurface questions about the county’s voting machines now?
During a break in the meeting, Arnold told The Tribune that she wanted staff to present a report on the security of Dominion machines, as she’s concerned that people can hack into them and tamper with voter data, a claim that’s been refuted by the company repeatedly in the years after the 2020 presidential election.
The county uses Dominion voting machines to scan ballots and count votes.
The machines are certified by the U.S. government and “do not rely on Internet connectivity for use,” according to the Dominion Voting Systems website.
“Remote access does not exist,” the website says bluntly.
Still leery of the machines, Arnold said she wants the Elections Office to count ballots by hand instead.
“Let’s just go back to the way we used to do it. It’s faster. People trust it,” she told The Tribune.
For his part, Gibson had no patience for the request and was satisfied with the way the county Clerk-Recorder’s Office conducts elections, whose accuracy has been proven in multiple recounts in recent years.
“The intent of this motion is to pander to baseless conspiracy theories,” Gibson said. “That this motion is even on the floor speaks poorly to the way that this board does business.”
This story was originally published February 7, 2024 at 9:00 AM.
