A movie, a conspiracy, and lies

2000 Mules is a documentary film by Dinesh D'Souza, and purports to expose widespread, coordinated voter fraud in the 2020 election, sufficient to change the overall outcome of the election. You can watch this video on You Tube at no cost.

Drawing on research provided by the election integrity group True the Vote, The film suggests that two sources of evidence geotracking and video recordings supports the idea that the 2020 election was stolen.

Geotracking is the process of determining the location of a person or another object physical location at a specific point in time. This technology has hundreds of uses and these devices are in vehicles, cell phones, etc.

The film 2000 Mules uses a flawed analysis of cell phone geo-location data and ballot drop box surveillance footage that was manipulated to try and prove election fraud in the 2020 presidential election. 

The movie suggests Democrats organized and paid individuals (=mules) to illegally collect and drop off ballots in key battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

​The evidence presented is a combination of anonymous accounts and improper analysis of cell phone location data, which is not precise enough to confirm that somebody deposited a ballot into a drop box. No evidence here.

​The movie was produced by conservative filmmaker and convicted felon Dinesh D’Souza  who used research from the Texas-based nonprofit True the Vote, which has spent months lobbying states to use its findings to change voting laws. 

The film supposedly contains video showing the same person depositing ballots at more than one dropbox. In fact, the person is the same and the dropbox is the same. In other words, the film clip was used multiple times– and the person only dropped off one ballot at one dropbox.

 Conspiracy theories are everywhere these days and this movie is an attempt to confirm the totally erroneous idea of a fraudulent election in 2020.  

 This week Bill Barr gave sworn testimony before the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection. While speaking about the big lie, former Attorney General Barr broke down laughing at Dinesh D'Souza and his conspiracy movie 2000 Mules.

D'Souza claims at least 2,000 “mules” were paid to illegally collect ballots and deliver them to drop boxes in key swing states ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

​The finding is based on false assumptions about the precision of cellphone tracking data and the reasons that someone might drop off multiple ballots. 

​True the Vote has said it found some 2,000 ballot harvesters by purchasing $2 million worth of anonymized cell phone geolocation data in various swing counties across five states. Then, by drawing a virtual boundary around a county’s ballot drop boxes and various unnamed nonprofits, it identified cell phones that repeatedly went near both ahead of the 2020 election.

​If a cell phone went near a drop box more than 10 times and a nonprofit more than five times from Oct. 1 to Election Day, True the Vote assumed its owner was a “mule”. [The person who came up with this idea is a fool.]

​Cell phone location data is imprecise. If someone drove by box or walked by a box they were tagged as “a mule.”

​Drop boxes are in busy areas, the likelihood of citizens driving or walking by is very high, particularly by delivery drivers, postal workers, cab drivers, poll workers, elected officials and people who live in the neighborhood - all have legitimate reasons to cross paths with numerous dropboxes or nonprofits in a given day. 

D’Souza also alleged ballot harvesters were captured on surveillance video wearing gloves because they didn’t want to leave their fingerprints on the ballots. This is pure speculation. It ignores far more likely reasons for glove-wearing in the fall and winter of 2020 — cold weather and COVID-19.

D’Souza was convicted of Campaign Finance Fraud in 2014 (a felony).

This film is pure propaganda, and it will likely be used in the future in classes on how to lie using cinematic techniques, even when you are inept.

Just to be clear. The only attempted fraud in the 2020 elections was by Republicans. The proof is in the January 6 Committee hearings.