Letter to the Editor: About those voting machine lawsuits
A lawsuit for libel is different than other lawsuits, and to win a libel suit the person or company must prove malice. Malice is defined as “the intention or desire to do evil or ill will.”
Lawsuits in America have brought about many changes, and lawsuits have corrected many wrongs in America.
A libel lawsuit gives both sides an equal legal opportunity to present proof for their published and spoken statements. If a person or company feels that their reputation was maliciously damaged, they can sue, and the person or company they are suing can defend themselves. If either side is unhappy with the verdict they can appeal, and so on up to the Supreme Court of the United States.
I have to say I was puzzled at the accusations leveled at both Smartmatic and Dominion voting machine companies after the last presidential election. My puzzlement increased as lawsuit after lawsuit was dropped because of a lack of evidence, and yet the accusations not only intensified, they were echoed by many powerful people and finally accounted for millions of people believing the election was lost, in part, because of these two companies. The slogan “Stop the Steal” became a popular chant despite no legal proof ever being presented.
Much of our country is built on trust, and when trust is abused then legal remedies are available. Millions of people believe that Smartmatic and Dominion were guilty of voter fraud because people they trusted told them that is what happened. If the stories are untrue, should these companies be allowed to go broke because of lies told about their product by people who were in positions of trust?
If it was my company and the allegations were untrue, I would seek a legal remedy. I’m sure most of you reading this would do the same.
And I would be remiss if I didn’t reiterate that BOTH sides must prove their case. Neither side can simply say “they did this” or “we didn’t do this”. Each side must prove the “this” or they lose.
I’m sure that the people who so blatantly used their trusted popularity and their ability to speak to millions of trusting followers about their knowledge that voter fraud occurred are getting their proof in order at this time.
Peter Skeels
Lake Almanor, CA