The allegations of fraud are getting even more serious at America PAC, the organization funded by tech billionaire Elon Musk that is running a large part of former President Donald Trump’s voter canvassing operation in battleground states.
According to The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell, “A bootleg how-to-spoof video, made by an America Pac canvasser in Nevada and obtained by the Guardian, shows the apparent ease with which locations can be changed to fake door-knocks, calling into question how many Trump voters have actually been reached by the field operation.”
The leaked video, apparently sent out to “a few hundred canvassers,” explains how to fake it: “A user downloads a GPS-spoofing app to falsely place themself at the door of a Trump voter, fakes responses to the survey and takes steps to cover up the fraud by varying the survey responses to make it believable.”
America PAC has sought to downplay the situation, issuing a joint statement alongside its vendors: “Every door that is marked leaves unique fingerprints, and the fingerprints of a door marked with a spoofing app leave these fingerprints in neon colors. We have tech-enabled auditing and fraud prevention tools to identify and dismiss the bad apples, the Pac doesn’t pay a dime, and the door gets knocked by the next canvasser.”
But this comes amid reports that even America PAC canvassers trying to operate legitimately are struggling with app glitches; a former Arizona GOP legislative candidate canvassing with America PAC for Trump in Wisconsin reported that she kept getting sent to the homes of Harris supporters instead.
Meanwhile, America PAC’s own figures appear to show that these faked voter contacts may account for 20 to 25 percent of all their reported doors knocked in the battleground states of Arizona and Nevada.
Earlier this week, The Guardian also obtained a text message from leadership at Blitz Canvassing, one of the firms subcontracted by America PAC, warning their contractors not to speak to the press amid all the publicity about their failures.
“If for whatever reason a reporter calls and you find yourself in a conversation, just politely say ‘no comment’ and end the conversation to comply with the non-disclosure agreement that all of us are under,” said the message. “These reporters want to elect Democrats and embarrass their sources — so ‘no comment’ is always the best approach.”
Former President Donald Trump’s campaign, along with the Republican National Committee, have largely pulled back on in-house canvassing operations, instead relying on groups like America PAC to do that work for them as they redirect their own funds to recruiting poll watchers and setting up legal challenges to the electoral count.