Fact-check: Did the U.S. military seize servers tied to Dominion Election Systems?

Samantha Putterman

PolitiFact.com

Visitors listen as John Hastings, right, with Dominion Voting Systems, speaks during a Pennsylvania Department of State Voting Systems Expo in Erie at Blasco Library on Jan. 29. Erie is one of several counties across the state that will invest in new voting machines ahead of the 2020 presidential election to meet new mandates that require voting machines to have an auditable, paper backup. Erie County officials have been waiting to find out what, if any, assistance they'll receive for the new machines, which could cost between $1.5 million and $2.5 million.

YouTube videos: The U.S. military seized servers in Germany tied to Dominion Election Systems.

PolitiFact’s ruling: Pants on Fire

Here’s why: Voting equipment company Dominion Voting Systems has been at the center of unfounded conspiracy theories — many spread by President Donald Trump — that claim Democrats committed voter fraud and stole the 2020 election for Joe Biden.

There’s no evidence that Dominion’s systems were used nefariously in the election, but false claims about the company keep coming.

Posts circulating online claim that the U.S. military raided the Spanish election software company Scytl in Germany and seized its servers for evidence of manipulation in the 2020 U.S. elections. Some posts claim the servers have ties to Dominion.

This is false. Scytl said in a statement that the U.S. military hasn’t seized anything and that it doesn’t have offices in Germany. The U.S. Army, which was identified in some posts as the military branch supposedly involved, denied to the Associated Press that such an event took place.

The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

The rumor was fueled by an article on a website called "GreatGameIndia" titled "INTEL: US Military Raided Scytl Servers in Germany For Evidence After Vote Switching Scandal." It said, "votes cast by Americans in 2020 US election were counted by a bankrupt Spanish company Scytl in Spain."

The story pointed to comments made by U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, who appeared on conservative TV channel Newsmax. A clip of the interview shows Gohmert saying that he was told there was "a tweet in German from Germany that the U.S. Army had gone in and seized the Syctl server."

The clip’s description on YouTube reads: "People on the ground in Germany report that Scytl, which hosting YOUR elections data Improperly through Spain, was raided by a large US ARMY force & their Servers were Seized in Frankfurt."

An Army spokesperson told the AP over the weekend that the claims in the posts are false.

Scytl, a software company based in Barcelona, has eight offices around the world but none in Germany, according to its website. It has delivered election modernization projects for U.S. elections since 2008.

But none of these projects involve tallying votes, the company said. The services include online initiatives like election worker training, electronic ballot delivery and real-time, visual representation of votes.

In a statement rejecting the claims, Scytl said that its technologies for the U.S. are hosted and managed domestically by a Tampa-based subsidiary, SOE Software, and that it does not provide any voting machines in the U.S. or online voting services for U.S. elections.

"We do not have servers or offices in Frankfurt," the company added. "The US army has not seized anything from Scytl in Barcelona, Frankfurt or anywhere else."

Scytl and Dominion share no ties, according to statements from both companies.

The federal Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council Executive Committee and the Election Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Council said in a joint statement that the election was the most secure in U.S. history and that there is "no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised."

Our ruling

Social media users are sharing articles and videos claiming that the U.S. military seized Scytl servers in Germany and that the company has ties to Dominion Voting Systems.

The Army and Scytl said the claim is false, and the company has no offices in Germany or connection to Dominion.

We rate this Pants on Fire!

PolitiFact Texasis a partnership of the Austin American-Statesman, Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News to help you find the truth in Texas politics.

Sources

YouTube video, Nov. 14
PolitiFact, Trump’s tweet about 2.7 million deleted votes is baseless, Nov. 12, 2020
PolitiFact, Says Dominion Voting System flipped votes to Joe Biden in states where Trump is bringing legal challenges., Nov. 13, 2020
Scytl, Fact Checking Regarding US Elections: Debunking Fake News, Nov. 13, 2020
Scytl, US Elections, Accessed Nov. 17, 2020
Dominion Voting, SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT: FACTS & RUMORS, Updated Nov. 17, 2020
Associated Press, False reports claim election servers were seized in Germany, Nov. 15, 2020
Reuters, Fact check: The U.S. military has not seized election servers in Germany, Nov. 16, 2020
Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, JOINT STATEMENT FROM ELECTIONS INFRASTRUCTURE GOVERNMENT COORDINATING COUNCIL & THE ELECTION INFRASTRUCTURE SECTOR COORDINATING EXECUTIVE COMMITTEES, Nov. 12, 2020