Dominion, voting firm targeted by false 2020 election claims, sold to new owner | US politics
Dominion Voting Systems, company that manufactures widely used voting equipment in the United States synonymous with election conspiracies and Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election has been sold.
The company was purchased by former Republican Missouri elections official Scott Leiendecker, who founded KnowInk, which produces electronic poll books used at polling stations across the country. Leindecker acquired Dominion through a new company called Liberty Vote. Leiendecker served as director of elections in St. Louis from 2005 to 2012, according to LinkedIn; during this period he overlapped with Ed Martin, a staunch Trump ally at the justice department who served as chairman of the St. Louis board of elections from 2005 to 2006.
The acquisition represents “a new chapter in rebuilding trust from the ground up for American elections,” Leiendecker said in a press release, pledging to deliver election technology that prioritizes “paper-based transparency, security and simplicity so voters can be confident that every ballot is filled out accurately and fairly.”
“As of today, Dominion is gone. Liberty Vote is assuming full ownership and operational control,” the company said in a statement.
The sale comes after Dominion spent years in court defending its reputation and suing for damages against news outlets and Trump allies who baselessly said the company’s equipment scuttled votes in 2020. Reached a landmark $787.5 million settlement with Fox over false claims about the 2023 election. Private equity firm Staple Street Capital bought a 76% stake in Dominion for $38 million in 2018.
Newsmax, another far-right network, agreed to pay $67 million to settle a defamation lawsuit filed against Dominion earlier this year. Dominion also reached agreements with the following countries: One America NewsSidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani for false claims about the 2020 election.
Dominion was founded and headquartered in Toronto and also operated in Denver, Colorado. The company developed software at offices in the United States, Canada and Serbia. Their systems were used in more than half of the United States during the 2024 election.
Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed.
The newly renamed Liberty Vote said it will use hand-marked paper ballots, maintain 100% American ownership with domestic staff and software development, and implement strict third-party auditing standards.
The company said its approach would ensure “compliance with President Trump’s executive order regarding election security,” but did not provide specific details. A March 25 executive order requires states to use voting systems with a “voter-verifiable paper record” (according to the nonprofit verified voting, every state except Louisiana already uses paper ballots and paper records). The decision also aims to ban equipment that encodes voter preferences with a QR code.
Jennifer Morrell, the election group’s CEO and a highly respected election management consultant, said KnowInk is “highly respected” in the election community.
“I’m confident they wouldn’t buy Dominion if there was a chance they couldn’t provide the same great service and support they currently provide to election officials with their e-poll book and voter registration systems,” he said.
