Mike Lindell Debuts New Election Strategy

Mike Lindell has unveiled his new plan to ensure future election security: a wireless device that monitors polling places to assure that machines are not just connected to the internet but maintain real-time accuracy.

He made the announcement this afternoon on the final day of his two-day Election Crime Bureau Summit in Springfield, Missouri, which reportedly had low attendance on Wednesday.

Lindell is a staunch conservative who has become one of the Republican Party's loudest voices when it comes to election integrity, consistently stating that the 2020 election was rigged to defeat Donald Trump—who just earlier this week, along with 18 others in his orbit, was charged with election-related crimes pertaining to the results in Georgia, a state that was called for President Joe Biden.

"What if I told you that there's a device that's been made for the first time in history that could tell you that that machine was online?...Well, this is what we've been working on for over a year," Lindell said today. "This is a demo, everybody. We have it."

A device that Lindell estimated can detect internet access within 100 yards is connected to a device known as the Wireless Monitoring Device, described as "a sophisticated network connection monitoring system designed specifically with election security in mind."

According to a video tutorial presented to the audience, that device would detect whether election computers are connected to the internet in municipal, county and state offices and polling places. Anyone with a smartphone, for example, would automatically be detected by the device based on technology that recognizes IP addresses and internal computer hardware.

When a connection is detected, screens affiliated with a command center would display a webpage confirming the connections based on access points and the wireless clients in a particular room or building.

Lindell said that all such information would be "securely archived for later analysis," adding that "we now can catch 'em in a lie." He neglected to divulge, both during the summit and to Newsweek, which state the command center is located, adding that the device has already been utilized in local elections in states including Mississippi and Kentucky.

The real-time monitoring would be conducted by him and his team, Lindell said, with results posted in real time on FrankSocial.

"We want those officials to know that we're monitoring them, and they would want to know that too...Who's telling the truth, the machine companies or the evidence there online?" said the founder of MyPillow.

Lindell told Newsweek via phone on Friday that he has probably 5,000 devices ready for fall elections this year, with the anticipation of having devices present across all 50 states by next November's elections.

"I want to put them wherever there's a voting machine where people will put them," Lindell said. "We want to have fair elections, this is about getting rid of electronic voting machines."

More Republican public officials than Democratic ones have pushed back on the devices and machines connecting to the internet, Lindell added.

"It's the Republican politicians that for some reason want to keep these [voting] machines, or where I'm getting strong push back....This isn't a Democratic or Republican thing. This is a Uniparty thing....If Trump would have won I would still be sounding the alarm right here 'til this day," he said.

Lindell previously told The Daily Beast that this technology would revolutionize elections, while also vowing to defeat a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit filed against him by Dominion Voting Systems—the same company that was legally successful in its lawsuit against Fox News Corporation for similar claims.

Another defamation suit against Lindell, who has borrowed $10 million to fend off the Dominion accusations, was made by ex-Dominion employee Eric Coomer, who claims Lindell defiled his character with his false election fraud claims.

Attorneys for Dominion previously told Newsweek that Lindell is a "schoolyard bully" who they have no intention to settle with after first filing the lawsuit in February 2021.

When asked about any updates in the Dominion lawsuits, Lindell said they were all "garbage" and that there's "nothing there."

In March of this year, Lindell told Newsweek that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was conducting a personal tax audit on him, which he deemed "suspicious."

Others who were scheduled to attend and speak at Lindell's summit included Rudy Giuliani, who along with Trump was indicted in Georgia, and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon.

The summit was broadcast on YouTube, the conservative Right Side Broadcasting Network (RSBN), and a website called Frankspeech.

Update 08/18/23, 10:11 a.m. ET: This story was updated with comment from Lindell.