Polygraph

The Venezuelan election commission was taken over 25 years ago by a group that built a computerized election system with a hackable back door.

Posted by Ask Dr. Drew, Checked

Polygraph verdictCan’t tell
Sources
1 contradict5 context
Said
1 time·
Confidence
30%
Ask Dr. DrewOct 21, 2026
View on Podcast ↗
Video frame
72 claimsThe check →

The sources do not address when or by whom Venezuela's election commission was taken over, and they do not show that anyone deliberately built a back door into the system.

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

What was said

… They nationalized the oil industry, and they extracted 3 trillion dollars. They looted. If you're going to do something like that, there's something else you need to steal. You need to steal the election commission, and these Marxist mafiosi, 25 years ago, took over the election commission, and they caused to be built within a computerized election system that had a back door that could be hacked. 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 …
Ask Dr. Drew · · from the transcriptPost →

What we found

Contradicts. FactCheck.org reports that the CIA report stopped short of alleging Venezuela actually carried out plans to alter voting machine tallies, and that its assessment of manipulation was 'theoretical'.[1]

Context. The CIA note says Venezuelan officials 'developed sustained interest and likely some capability' in manipulating electronic voting systems, including Smartmatic technology, and that the systems had vulnerabilities that could theoretically be exploited.[2]

Context. Wikipedia notes that Venezuelan elections have been automated since 1998 and administered by the National Electoral Council, but it does not say who took over the council or when.[3]

Context. Sources on the 2024 election describe the CNE's unexplained cyberattack claims as unevidenced, but none addresses a takeover of the commission about 25 years ago or a deliberately built back door.[4][5][6]

Sources

6 sources: 1 fact-checker, 5 not rated

  1. 1Trump's Distorted Venezuela Elections Claimfactcheck.org · fact-checker · cited for: contradicts
  2. 2[PDF] CIA NOTEcato.org · not rated · cited for: context
  3. 3Elections in Venezuela - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org · not rated · cited for: context
  4. 4'No evidence' of Venezuela vote hacking, says Carter Center mission chiefrfi.fr · not rated · cited for: context
  5. 5Observation of the 2024 Presidential Election in Venezuelacartercenter.org · not rated · cited for: context
  6. 6[PDF] Serious human rights violations in connection with the electionsoas.org · not rated · cited for: context

Where this claim was made

Said in 1 published post

How Polygraph checks a claim

Our Weekly Newsletter

The Readout

The week's most-shared posts, checked. What they claimed, how they argued, and what held up.

Unsubscribe any time. See our privacy policy.