The core operating system of major election systems worldwide is derived from a system originally built for the Venezuelan election commission.

Posted by Ask Dr. Drew, Oct 21, 2026Checked Nov 2, 2026

Polygraph verdictFalse

Sources: 3 contradict1 support5 context
Said: 1 time·
Confidence: 75%

Ask Dr. DrewOct 21, 2026

The claim that major election systems' core software derives from a system originally built for the Venezuelan election commission is an allegation that authoritative fact-checks reject.

A guest makes this claim. Listeners heard it, so it counts against the post, and on the guest's own record.

What was said

… Believe it or not, by hook or by crook, by corporate acquisition, divestiture, licensing agreement, bankruptcy, blah blah blah, that core operating system ended up as the core operating package of all the major, of all the major election systems in the world, and they all have that back door. Uh, in particular, the stuff you're talking about, parts coming from China, we've we have so, allegedly, this stuff is made in Taiwan, but we have we've i spent two years out of the country working with this famous CIA guy, recruiting a bunch of Venezuelan …

Ask Dr. Drew · Oct 21, 2026· from the transcriptPost →

What we found

Contradicts. PolitiFact rates Sidney Powell's claim that Dominion and Smartmatic were created to change election results as false; neither was created for that purpose and Smartmatic was not used in the disputed battleground states.[1]

Contradicts. AP Fact Check finds the claim that voting software was created in Venezuela at Hugo Chavez's direction false, stating Dominion has no ties to Venezuela or partnership with Smartmatic.[2]

Contradicts. FactCheck.org reports that the 2006 Intelligence Community assessment found neither Smartmatic nor the Venezuelan government had the capability to manipulate election outcomes outside Venezuela, and that the CIA's analysis was only theoretical.[3]

Supports. An unrated declassification-style summary says the core software of Dominion, Hart InterCivic and ES&S derives from Smartmatic's original system, which was acquired through licensing after the Diebold divestiture. This is the closest support, but it is unrated, does not say the system was built for the Venezuelan election commission, and is undercut by the fact-checks.[4]

Context. Smartmatic started in Venezuela under Hugo Chavez and set up Venezuela's electronic voting system, which later went global; this is a commercial origin, not a government election-commission build.[5][6]

Context. Unrated sources about the Berntsen and Pezzullo book repeat the allegation that Chavez's regime had engineers build vote-modifying software; these are not independent records and do not overturn the fact-checks.[7][8][9]

Sources

9 sources: 3 fact-checkers, 5 not rated, 1 tier 2

1Trump lawyer falsely claims voting technology companies ...politifact.com · fact-checker · cited for: contradicts
2AP FACT CHECK: Trump legal team's batch of false vote ...apnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: contradicts
3Trump's Distorted Venezuela Elections Claimfactcheck.org · fact-checker · cited for: contradicts
4Election Interference By The Chinese, Cuban, and ...x.com · not rated · cited for: supports
5Venezuelan Poll 'Tampered With,' Says Voting System ...npr.org · tier 2 · cited for: context
6Venezuela leads the way in electoral best practices ...elections.smartmatic.com · not rated · cited for: context
7Investigators Describe Battle to Expose Election Fraudsouthshorepress.com · not rated · cited for: context
8Stolen Elections? Lara Logan Talks Foreign Interference With Gary Berntsen And Ralph Pezzulloyahoo.com · not rated · cited for: context
9[PDF] John Case letter pdf.pdf - Squarespacestatic1.squarespace.com · not rated · cited for: context

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Ask Dr. Drew · Oct 21, 2026Post →

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