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The sale of Dominion Voting Systems — the election technology company that Trump allies aggressively targeted with false claims about the 2020 election — took state and local election officials by surprise last week.
An announcement from the new owner, led by former Republican election official Scott Leiendecker, described the acquisition as “a bold and historic move to transform and improve election integrity in America.” It echoed language used by President Donald Trump and other conservatives who have questioned the security of elections and voting machines, including calls for hand-marked paper ballots.
But for now, the sale appears to be more of a rebranding than a revolution. Dominion is operating under the name of its new owner, called Liberty Vote. State election officials say they have now been told no staff changes, contract terminations, or product overhauls are expected.
“Once we took a step back and took a deep breath, we realized not much was changing,” said Matt Crane, director of the Colorado Clerks Association, who organized a call between Leiendecker and the state’s many election officials to address their concerns.
Election officials caught off guard
The announcement’s tone and lack of notice initially alarmed at least some officials who rely on Dominion’s systems. Jurisdictions in 27 states use some Dominion equipment, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Georgia, according to Verified Voting, which tracks that data.
Robert Sinners, spokesperson for the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, said the office found out only a few hours before the news became public last week, and clerks in his state weren’t initially sure how, if at all, their contracts would be affected.
“The clerks were very upset about this,” said Crane, from Colorado. But the call assuaged their worry, leaving clerks cautiously optimistic, and at least one more has taken place since.
“He’s saying all the right things,” Crane said.
A Liberty Vote official told Votebeat in an email that there was “an intensive effort to inform existing customers as quickly as possible following the acquisition and formal meetings occurred immediately following the public announcement.”
Many customers were informed by their existing support staff, who will continue to provide service under the new name. “With respect to staffing and contracting, there are no plans for any changes at this time,” the Liberty Vote official said.
Leiendecker has been involved in elections for a long time. A former elections director in St. Louis, he founded the company Knowink in 2011, and it has since become the nation’s most widely used vendor for electronic pollbooks, the systems used to check in voters at polling places.
Liberty Vote is a separate company that he created to acquire Dominion. Leiendecker told clerks in Colorado he is the sole owner, and a representative told Wired magazine that Leiendecker privately financed the acquisition.
Leiendecker sees no change for Colorado
Liberty Vote’s announcement last week said its goal was to “restore public confidence in the electoral process through transparent, secure, and trustworthy voting systems, including the use of hand-marked paper ballots.”
The statement referenced Donald Trump’s executive order from March that would require the use of paper ballots and ban the use of QR codes on ballots for tabulation purposes. Several provisions of the order are being challenged in court.
In the call with clerks in Colorado, Leiendecker said that the machines in that state would be unaffected. Colorado’s machines, which use hand-marked paper ballots and do not use QR or bar codes for tabulation, already comply with those provisions in Trump’s executive order.
Clerks in Georgia use voting machines that print a QR code on the ballot for vote tabulation. Sinners said that all communication from the new company has reinforced that nothing is changing, at least for now.
The Liberty Vote official confirmed that “all of the current Liberty Vote systems comply with existing federal, state and local laws and regulations,” and said the company will continue to work to improve systems in coordination with state and local officials.
Early voting for a statewide Nov. 4 election begins Tuesday, and Sinners said Dominion’s contract with Georgia, now managed by Liberty Vote, does not expire until 2026. Any changes would be negotiated at that point.
Dominion fought to defend its reputation
Dominion has been among the most scrutinized companies in the country since the 2020 election, when false claims about vote manipulation spread widely among supporters of Trump’s reelection campaign. But Dominion’s systems were repeatedly validated by audits and election officials across the country.
Dominion spent years seeking to clear its name through the courts. In 2023, it settled a defamation lawsuit against Fox News for $787 million, after accusing the network of knowingly broadcasting false claims that Dominion had rigged the election for Joe Biden. In recent weeks, Dominion also reportedly reached undisclosed settlements with former Trump attorneys Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani in separate defamation cases.
Despite these legal victories, even election officials who never believed the conspiracy theories found it politically difficult to contract with a company so publicly vilified. Counties like Shasta County, California, and Rio Grande, Colorado, either canceled or rescinded contracts with the company. Four county clerks have told Votebeat they declined to consider bids from Dominion because they were concerned about potential blowback.
Despite the initial shock of the sale, some, like Georgia’s Sinners, see the move as a welcome chance to move past years of controversy.
“Honestly, I’m just excited not to talk about Dominion every day anymore,” he said. “If this helps us move on, great.”
Jessica Huseman is Votebeat’s editorial director and is based in Dallas. Contact Jessica at jhuseman@votebeat.org.
