Election Hacks: Zeidman v. Lindell: Exposing the $5 million election myth

by Bob Zeidman

Mike Lindell, the MyPillow magnate, has been inciting crowds by publicly declaring he has proof of voting machine tampering that threw the 2020 election from Donald Trump to Joe Biden. Bob Zeidman, who invented the field of software forensics, was invited by Lindell in 2020 to examine and verify the alleged proof. What he found was bogus data, manipulated results, and dangerous conspiracy theories by some of the most incompetent people he has encountered. This is the story of Bob’s successful $5 million lawsuit against Lindell and his uncovering of a scandal leading to some of the top political leaders and advisors in America. Was the election stolen? Maybe. But Lindell’s bogus claims have prevented legitimate investigations into voter fraud.A Conspiracy of Dunces is not just an important book about the cries of a stolen 2020 presidential election, it’s also a warning for the 2024 election and all future elections. It’s a personal story of a man who found the truth and pursued it by going up against a rich, powerful, influential businessman. It’s a technological mystery, a courtroom drama, and a character study of extremists and their enablers. It’s about human nature and how people can so easily be led astray. And it’s about standing up for the truth, even when that truth may turn out to belie your beliefs and alienate your friends.

292 pages, Paperback

Published November 20, 2023

About the author

Bob Zeidman is an engineering consultant, Internet entrepreneur, independent filmmaker, and freelance writer living in Silicon Valley. He has won awards for his short films, short stories, and screenplays. His novel Horror Flick won an Opus Magnum Award from the Hollywood Film Festival. When he is not writing he enjoys writing software program, designing computer chips, and developing his multidimensional correlation theory."

Reviews

[Reader Views · Rating 5 out of 5]

There ought to be a catchy term for the dubious claims, the fishy contentions, the campaigns of outright bamboozlement that a partisan player desperate to be believed asks the country to swallow. It goes beyond misinformation. Little lies are fibs, big lies are frauds, but what do you call a sustained program of insistence upon things that are not true? Propaganda? Counterintelligence? Intellectual disability?

Bob Zeidman calls it $5 million — that is, if Mike Lindell ever pays him. That’s how much an arbitration panel awarded him for proving Lindell wrong about 2020 election rigging. Bob Zeidman gives readers the story in “Election Hacks, Zeiman v. Lindell: Exposing the $5 Million Election Myth.”

You remember the story: in 2021 Lindell announced he had proof the election had been hacked by the Chinese, and offered $5 million to anyone who could prove his data spurious. Well, this was the wrong sort of challenge to flaunt before a software forensics expert and cyber developer with a strong preference for the truth.

Zeidman accepted the challenge, studied the data, sliced it and diced it, used his own invented tools to search for incriminating evidence, and arrived at bupkis. His careful poring through massive computer files revealed nothing but the names of the candidates and a lot of gibberish.

Lindell refused to believe he didn’t hold proof of election meddling. And so, after finding a legal team willing to press the case, Zeidman took it to arbitration.

His book tells the story of that arduous process, going deep into the particulars of courtroom tactics and legal strategies, often very deep. Drawing on his experience in court — Zeidman is also a professional witness — he makes the story a procedural drama about the contest, offering commentary on both his adversaries’ performance and his own, and often second guessing both.

The narrative stays close to the debate. Characters are brought in and described as they relate to the case; their significance in the world no greater than what bears on the question. It’s Zeidman’s melodic line in a fugue of claim and counterclaim, and at times feels like a legal deposition.

But the wealth of detail is never allowed to diminish the red-hot interest of the overall question: Did someone reverse thousands of votes in the 2020 election to give Joe Biden the victory? Zeidman’s authoritative answer is no. And lest you think his story makes one more partisan cry for the Democrats, Zeidman has voted repeatedly for Trump.

Imagine that: a seeker who puts truth above victory for his own political side. Wouldn’t it be great to have more of him?

[Ellen Neuborne · Rating 5 out of 5]

With truth in short supply these days, first-hand accounts of important events rise from interesting to critical. If you’re planning to vote in 2024, you need to read Election Hacks by Bob Zeidman. Zeidman is a software engineer, an expert in digital forensics and a Republican. When MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell invited hackers to a meetup in South Dakota to stress test the data he claimed showed 2020 election fraud, Zeidman got himself on the invitation list. Lindell publicly and repeatedly offered $5 million to the engineer who could Prove Mike Wrong. Zeidman, who’d voted for Trump twice, figured it was a chance to be a part of history. But during the two days of speeches, politics and multiple choruses of God Bless America, Zeidman discovered an inconvenient truth. Tapping his acumen as a forensics pro and the unique software tools he’d developed and patented over the years, he realized there was no evidence of fraud or hacking in Lindell’s data. He could Prove Mike Wrong. Zeidman quietly stepped out of earshot of the other attendees, called his wife and said: “Think about how you’re going to spend $5 million.”

Zeidman’s book details his experience at the cyber symposium (the most compelling section of the book) and his subsequent legal battle to collect the $5 million prize (less exciting to read but an important chronicle of the events and key individuals.) Zeidman won his court battle but acknowledges he may never see his money; Lindell will likely go bankrupt first. Still, in telling his story – the events as he saw them, the truth as he experienced it – is worthwhile. He devotes the final pages of his book to the frightening way America seems willing to disregard truth – even when there’s data to prove it – and instead cling to whatever personalities have emerged as leaders. He maintains this is happening across the political spectrum and it will take courage on the part of both Democrats and Republicans to challenge their belief systems and demand leaders do more than toss out attacks and slogans.

Wherever you may be on the political spectrum, it’s impossible not to see Zeidman’s point as valid: We need less myth and more truth.

[Bob Zeidman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book while I was writing it. It's the most important book I've written. I enjoyed writing it (and experiencing it), so I hope you all like it too.

[David Burns · Rating 1 out of 5]

Vitriol from the right.

It only took one chapter to determine the the author watches Fox News and believe that Trump is the next Jesus. I'm getting my nine dollars back.