The left-leaning Star Tribune, one of Minnesota’s largest news outlets, reported that technology from Dominion Voting Systems “delayed election results” in 2016.
Dominion is a Canada-based tech company responsible for supplying equipment that tabulates the vote at Minnesota’s central counting location and other polling places, per the Office of the Secretary of State. Since the 2020 election, Dominion has been at the center of several controversies related to allegations of election fraud. Those who support President Donald Trump and believe fraud occurred in November are critical of Dominion, while Democrats who believe that no fraud occurred tend to trust the company.
However, this partisan split on opinions about Dominion has not always existed.
As recently as Jan. 9 of this year, the Star Tribune amplified criticism leveled against Dominion by Congress in an article titled, “Voting machine vendors get scrutiny at congressional hearing.”
Representatives were concerned about Dominion’s voting machines early this year after U.S. intelligence chiefs issued warnings about the potential for foreign interference in the election, according to the article. These worries were compounded by the fact that Dominion sources parts for its machines from abroad, the article added.
The Star Tribune appears to have removed this article from its website, but it remains accessible via web archives and a now-defunct link to the piece, which still appears in Google searches.
The Star Tribune also published an account of Dominion’s systems failing in Minnesota in 2016.
Just one year after Scott and Dakota counties began using Dominion products for their local elections, the systems experienced issues that delayed results for the 2016 election, according to the Star Tribune.
The article states that an auditor in Scott County attributed the delay in results to a “software glitch” with new equipment from Dominion.
However, the outlet has now changed its tune.
Since Nov. 3, the Star Tribune has consistently defended Dominion and attacked those who challenge the decision of legacy media outlets to call the election for former Vice President Joe Biden.
One week after Election Day, the Star Tribune published an article aimed at defending Dominion and minimizing or negating its alleged connections to the Democratic Party. The outlet also published a so-called “explainer” that defended the company, an article that characterizes contemporary concerns about Dominion as a “conspiracy theory,” and has suggested that those who challenge the integrity of the 2020 election are racist.
The Star Tribune is not alone in performing an about-face with regards to Dominion.
Top Democrats, liberal pop-commentator John Oliver and Minnesota’s own Democrat Sen. Amy Klobuchar all once attacked Dominion’s products but now dismiss skepticism of their impact on the most recent election.
Klobuchar questioned the accuracy and security of Dominion for years until this November. In a 2019 letter, she called the company’s machines and software a threat to the “integrity of our elections,” claimed that they are “prone to security problems,” and even cited specific instances of Dominion products switching votes in 2018.
However, the senator now praises the security of the 2020 election that relied considerably on Dominion systems.
Minnesota’s liberal media and lawmakers are not the only ones who seem to have buried their previous criticism of Dominion.
MSNBC recently asserted that “‘Voter fraud’ claims are a racist attack on Black voters,” and has repeatedly cast doubt on those who have questioned Dominion since Nov. 3.
Just last year, the network showed how easy it is to hack a Dominion system in a video President Donald Trump re-circulated via Twitter earlier this month.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 14, 2020
