Published in partnership with the Daily Dot.
A video posted on the right-wing video site Rumble alleging to show evidence of election fraud in Dallas is being used to call for the delay in the certification of the midterm vote in Dallas County, which overwhelmingly supported Democrats in the election. It’s also being used to hype a fundraiser for the “Election Oversight Group”—an organization managed by a man who pled guilty to sexual voyeurism after secretly filming people in his home bathroom.
The video began circulating in conservative circles after a November 14 article in the Gateway Pundit, a right-wing conspiracy theory website. It was first posted by a right-wing influencer known as the “Cannabis Conservative” on November 12.
“The Election Oversight Group, who has been investigating and documenting Georgia’s election problems since the 2020 General Election, in conjunction with County Citizens Defending Freedom, has provided The Gateway Pundit with more evidence that our election system should not be trusted,” the article reads. “This time, it’s direct from Texas but has implications and evidence of occurrences in many other jurisdictions.”
Kevin Moncla, whose group obtained the video from a poll worker, suggested he will take legal action based on his findings in Dallas, but has not provided evidence beyond the one video. “We have the facts,” Moncla posted on Twitter on November 17. “The fact is the poll pad numbers across Dallas County were falsely inflated.”
We have the facts. The fact is the poll pad numbers across Dallas County were falsely inflated.
— Kevin Moncla (@KevinMoncla) November 17, 2022
The video, which shows unusual jumps in checked-in voters on the screen of an electronic pollbook after polls closed, has been used to fuel claims of fraud.
But these rumors have already been debunked by authorities. Despite being batted down as bogus in the wake of the Gateway Pundit’s splashy claims, the video was picked up the next day by the Dallas Express, a right wing outlet, and a local Spectrum News station.
During public comment at an unrelated Commissioners Court meeting on November 15, one Dallas County resident named Gene Robinson demanded a total decertification and redo of the election, referenced the debunked video, and then recommended the work of notorious election conspiracy theorist Russ Ramsland.
“I’m here today to call on this body to not certify the election of November 8 based on numerous accusations of fraud and malfeasance that went on in Dallas County,” Robinson said. “We have video evidence that electronic pollbooks were calculating additional voters after the election closed.”
Both the Gateway Pundit article and the description under the original post of the video on Rumble link to a fundraiser for the Election Oversight Group (EOG), which is led by Kevin Moncla. Moncla, a self-described investigative journalist and independent researcher, is listed as the manager of the EOG fundraiser on Give Send Go, a “Christian” fundraising platform that’s become a haven for far-right causes like the infamous Canadian and American trucker convoys. Moncla has appeared in podcasts representing EOG and regularly posts links to their website on Twitter. His name appears at the bottom of their Substack.
The EOG fundraiser is seeking $125,000 to support their “investigative approach.” It has raised less than $20,000 so far.
Moncla and another managing member of EOG, David Cross, filed a complaint in Georgia on October 11 claiming widespread “error codes” were found in Dominion Voting Systems tabulating machines in Georgia used in the 2020 election, a state where conspiracies around the company and voting machines have flourished. The video from Dallas, which was filmed in violation of election law, is but the latest broadside from the group.
But this isn’t the first time Moncla has been involved with illegal filming.
The Daily Dot has confirmed that Moncla, who is now based in Texas, was convicted in Florida after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor voyeurism charge in 2004.
The Daily Dot has confirmed that Moncla, who is now based in Texas, was convicted in Florida after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor voyeurism charge in 2004. Moncla was ordered to pay $3.25 million in damages by the court. As reported by the Ledger in 2006, court records say Moncla secretly videotaped house guests’ and his then-wife’s activities in the bathroom through ceiling vents at his home in Destin, Florida. From September to November 2002, a couple and their two young children were videotaped while they were guests in Moncla’s home, court records say.
In one of Moncla’s three mugshot photos, he’s sporting the same beard seen in his Twitter photo and in a November 16 appearance on Real America’s Voice, a far-right network that’s known for featuring Steve Bannon. Via email, Moncla confirmed he is involved with EOG but did not respond to the Daily Dot’s emails, calls, or texts regarding the voyeurism incident.
A Sheriff’s office investigator testified in a deposition that the recording setup in Moncla’s home was “more sophisticated than throwing a camera up somewhere and leaving it out.” The scheme unraveled when Moncla’s then-wife discovered a videocassette recorder with tapes inside under a bed, according to the prosecuting attorney.
Now, the secret bathroom filmer is engaged in another illicit filming campaign to prevent certification of elections in Texas, building on his prior efforts to challenge elections in Georgia. Both efforts center around allegations that voting machines and tabulators are compromised.
The calls to halt certification in Dallas are rooted in a specious narrative that says the videos filmed by poll workers in violation of election law that claim to show sudden jumps in the number of voters checking in after the polls were closed is evidence of compromise voting machines. While Moncla has submitted multiple formal complaints in Georgia alleging systemic issues with voting machines, he’s been vague about the details regarding Dallas County, a Democratic stronghold in Texas, aside from claims of inflated vote counts.
“Legal reasons,” he recently posted on Twitter. “You don’t put your evidence out before you file a case.”
Moncla’s comments on Real America’s Voice, as well as a podcast where he was featured as a guest alongside Michael Flynn acolyte and notorious election denier Seth Keshel, demonstrate outlandish beliefs that thousands of votes have been fabricated in Georgia. One 29-page complaint co-authored by Moncla claims with little basis that more than 300,000 votes were unverified in the Democratic stronghold of Fulton County, home of the city of Atlanta, and should have been thrown out in court.
Whether Moncla will make similar allegations about Dallas County is unclear, but he suggests has more in his pocket.
“I’ve got the complete line of evidence for both Dallas, TX and multiple counties in GA,” he wrote on Twitter. “I’m not guessing- it is a fact.”
I've got the complete line of evidence for both Dallas, TX and multiple counties in GA. I'm not guessing- it is a fact.
— Kevin Moncla (@KevinMoncla) November 17, 2022
While Moncla may have some experience in illegal, surreptitious voyeurism, his opinions on voting machines aren’t carrying much weight. The narrative pushed by EOG has been rebuked by nearly every authority that matters in Texas.
A spokesperson from the Texas secretary of state told Lead Stories that the state-certified Election Systems & Software (ES&S) voting systems have previously experienced “some delay in the downloading” of checked-in voters and then caught up.
“The updating of pollbook numbers, even after polls have closed, is normal behavior for an electronic pollbook,” a spokesperson from ES&S told Lead Stories.
“Dallas County’s e-pollbooks functioned accurately, but slowly, and correctly recorded the number of voters who were issued ballots on Election Day.”
Dallas County Elections has also responded to the claims. “Once the polls closed at 7 pm on Election Day, the upload traffic on the network decreased and, as a result, the downloads appeared to have sped up significantly,” the Dallas County Elections rumor control website reported. “Dallas County’s e-pollbooks functioned accurately, but slowly, and correctly recorded the number of voters who were issued ballots on Election Day.”
These statements clarify the updates that appear to cause a sudden jump in checked-in voters can happen due to spotty Wi-Fi connections as the system at a given voting location tries to distribute status updates to all of the units used by poll workers.
“It’s like getting a slew of Facebook notifications when you get a cell signal back,” reads one response to a video Moncla shared on Twitter.
So, if you happen to see claims of election fraud based on videos of individual polling machines, take them with a massive dose of skepticism. Particularly if they’re being promoted by a convicted bathroom voyeur.
