An election choose units up a Dominion voting machine throughout a public accuracy take a look at of voting tools on Aug. 3, 2022, in Burnsville, Minn.
Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
cover caption
toggle caption
Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
Dominion Voting Systems, the corporate on the middle of false fraud claims in regards to the 2020 election, has been acquired by an entity referred to as Liberty Vote.
“As of immediately, Dominion is gone,” the corporate mentioned in a press launch Thursday. “Liberty Vote assumes full possession and operational management.” Dominion’s web site now redirects to libertyvote.com.
President Trump and his allies, together with Rudy Giuliani, have falsely blamed Dominion and its machines for rigging the 2020 election, taking votes from Trump. The baseless claims in opposition to Dominion precipitated one in every of its executives to enter hiding in 2020, and led to quite a few defamation lawsuits.
Giuliani just lately reached a confidential settlement with Dominion. Most notably, Dominion received a virtually $800 million defamation case in opposition to Fox News.
Earlier this yr, an official with Trump’s Justice Department reached out to county clerks in Missouri and requested to examine Dominion voting tools they utilized in 2020.
The Liberty Vote launch makes a few nods to conservative election priorities, together with calling the acquisition “a daring and historic transfer to remodel and enhance election integrity in America.” Conservatives lately have used the phrase “election integrity” and talked about rising religion within the nation’s voting techniques.
The launch additionally notes that one in every of Liberty Vote’s priorities is “[l]everaging hand-marked paper ballots enabling compliance with President Trump’s govt order, and guaranteeing election safety and compliance with federal requirements.”
Most U.S. voters already vote utilizing hand-marked paper ballots. Much of Trump’s March govt order on voting has been halted by federal judges.
The new firm is based by Scott Leiendecker, a onetime St. Louis Republican election director who based an election know-how firm that is broadly utilized by election officers.
