A research nonprofit says it did an extensive examination of 2020 voting data in eight swing states and concluded “evidence of fraud or compromise was not found.”
The highly technical 43-page study was produced by The MITRE Corp. and its National Election Security Lab in McLean, Virginia.
The “Bald Eagle” team’s paper, self-funded in the “public interest,” MITRE says, is an independent voice against former President Donald Trump’s repeated allegations of widespread fraud that stole the election for President Biden.
MITRE boasts a long history of contracts with the Defense Department and other agencies to run research centers and contribute to developing an array of new systems.
Its key election finding is that machines did not switch votes — a major allegation from Mr. Trump’s legal team and his “Stop the Steal” movement.
“Multiple types of analysis found no evidence of fraud, manipulation, or uncorrected error in the eight states included in this research,” the Bald Eagle report states.
A consistent target of Trump supporters was Dominion Voting Systems in Denver. Dominion ballot-scanning/counting machines were used in nearly 30 states.
Lead Trump attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani accused Dominion of rigging the election. His side produced data analysis that purported to show anomalies in the flow and counting of tens of thousands of votes.
Republican and Democratic state elections officials reject the claims. In Georgia, for example, the state’s Republican secretary of state ordered a hand count of nearly 5 million ballots. The final count matched tabulations from Dominion machines, which showed Mr. Biden won the state by more than 10,000 votes.
Dominion has responded to attacks on its integrity by filing defamation lawsuits against key critics: Mr. Giuliani, Texas attorney Sidney Powell and My Pillow entrepreneur Mike Lindell, who produced his own election documentary accusing the company of wrongdoing.
For its election study, MITRE employed several analytic measurements such as “fingerprinting analysis” that compared turnout in Georgia’s districts to the winner’s voter percentage. If the two numbers vary widely, it can indicate machine vote flipping and ballot box stuffing. Bald Eagle saw none of that, the report said.
In its most significant measurement, MITRE compared election results in eight battleground states. It divided roughly 300 counties, one set using Dominion and one that did not. The goal was to look for unusual spikes in Democratic support.
“Researching allegations of vote flipping with Dominion voting machines, the team found there was no statistical difference in the results from ballot machines from different vendors,” MITRE said. “The claim that Dominion machines artificially inflated results to Joseph Biden, Jr.’s advantage is not supported in the election results data.”
Asked if the National Election Security Lab has done work for Dominion in the past, MITRE spokesman Jeremny D. Singer told The Washington Times: “NESL has conducted studies on behalf of states and election vendors, though we don’t disclose their identities in order to give them a private way to address potential vulnerabilities. We have not had any contractual relationship with Dominion.”
The study examined results in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
There had never been an election like 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic saw states scramble to print and distribute record numbers of mail-in ballots to help people practice social distancing.
The Pew Research Center estimates voters filled out 70 million mail-in ballots, about double the number mailed in 2016.
Democrats sought to capitalize by persuading states to weaken signature verification and extend deadlines for accepting ballots. Pennsylvania added three days to the normal Nov. 3 cutoff. Democrats wanted to add eight days in Wisconsin, but the courts said no. The deadline was 8 p.m. Election Day.
The mail-in ballot push gave rise to tales of the U.S. Postal Service losing thousands of votes. So far, such claims have not been proven.
Mr. Trump, at his historic Jan. 6 rally speech that was followed by the U.S. Capitol invasion and riot by his supporters, accused Georgia of a number of frauds. His claims included voting by unregistered, underage and felony-disqualified voters.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger says his investigative team audited voter rosters and found none of that to be true.
MITRE also examined data to find any double-voting in Georgia. By matching ID numbers, it found just 17 voters who submitted multiple ballots.
MITRE looked at the issue of “vote harvesting,” which is illegal in Georgia. Vote harvesting allows third parties to collect ballots from voters and deliver them to polling places.
MITRE compared the number of ballots requested with the number returned in all 159 counties.
A report graphic showed a consistency of ballots requested compared with those returned. A sharp drop of ballots returned would indicate possible destruction. A sharp increase would be evidence of “ballots being artificially submitted,” MITRE said. But the bar graph showed neither happened.
• Rowan Scarborough can be reached at rscarborough@washingtontimes.com.
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