Dominion Voting Methods, at centre of false 2020 election claims, offered to former Republican election official

[ad_1] Voting know-how firm Dominion Voting Methods (DVS), based in Toronto and a goal of conspiracy theories within the 2020 U.S. presidential election unfold by Republican Donald Trump and his allies, has been offered.

Dominion, which operated out of Denver for the previous a number of years, was purchased by a agency run by a former Republican elections official, its new firm introduced Thursday.

The acquisition represents a exceptional flip of occasions from simply over two years in the past. In April 2023, as a defamation trial neared, Fox Company and Fox Information agreed to pay $787.5 million US in a settlement and mentioned it did "acknowledge the courtroom's rulings discovering sure claims about Dominion to be false" in post-election protection throughout its information properties.

Heading into 2025, Dominion nonetheless had excellent litigation for related trigger in opposition to a handful of people and entities, however in keeping with a report Thursday in Axios, it reached undisclosed settlements with former Trump legal professionals Sidney Powell and Rudolph Giuliani and One America Information Community. Dominion had declined to remark in late September to CNN when it was realized by a courtroom submitting that the Giuliani lawsuit had been settled.

WATCH | Simply 2 years in the past, Dominion was heralding main settlement: The $787M Fox Information settlement, defined | About That

Fox Company and Fox Information reached a last-minute $787.5-million US settlement in a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Methods. Andrew Chang explores why Fox selected to settle, and what it may imply for the way forward for information. New firm 'devoted to restoring belief' KnowInk, a St. Louis-based supplier of digital ballot books that permit election officers to verify voter data, introduced the deal and the identify change of the corporate to Liberty Vote.

The announcement additionally quotes KnowInk's proprietor, former St. Louis elections director Scott Leiendecker, as vowing to offer "election know-how that prioritizes paper-based transparency," one of many longtime calls for of election conspiracy theorists.

<img loading="lazy" alt="Several people wearing COVID-19 masks use machinery to retrieve printed paper." srcset="https://i.cbc.ca/ais/795cd66f-3d6e-45f7-8c3e-73b33e16f418,1760114948013/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C4000%2C2667%29%3BResize%3D805 805w,https://i.cbc.ca/ais/795cd66f-3d6e-45f7-8c3e-73b33e16f418,1760114948013/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C4000%2C2667%29%3BResize%3D1104 1104w,https://i.cbc.ca/ais/795cd66f-3d6e-45f7-8c3e-73b33e16f418,1760114948013/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C4000%2C2667%29%3BResize%3D1280 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 762px) 93.6vw,730px" src="https://i.cbc.ca/ais/795cd66f-3d6e-45f7-8c3e-73b33e16f418,1760114948013/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C4000%2C2667%29%3B" style="aspect-ratio:1.4998125234345707" data-cy="image-img"/> Metropolis of Detroit Division of Elections carry out an accuracy check of kit made by Dominion Voting Methods forward of 2022 midterm elections, on July 28, 2022. (Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty Photographs) Nearly all voting tools within the U.S., together with that equipped by Dominion, already leaves a paper path.

Canadian John Poulos, Dominion's former CEO, confirmed the sale in a single-sentence assertion on Thursday: "Liberty Vote has acquired Dominion Voting Methods."

Whereas Poulos nonetheless had a stake within the firm he helped discovered, the personal fairness agency Staple Road Capital had, in 2018, acquired a big controlling stake in a $38 million US deal.

All web visitors to the previous Dominion website, together with truth checks about its know-how and the 2020 vote, now redirects to libertyvote.com. In a signed assertion on the positioning from Leiendecker, known as its founder and chairman, the corporate says it's "100 per cent American-owned" and is "devoted to restoring belief in our elections."

The announcement from the brand new firm doesn't disclose the price of the transaction, however a spokesperson instructed The Related Press all the cash was put up by Leiendecker. KnowInk and Liberty Vote are privately held.

Machines utilized in provincial, municipal elections Poulos, a College of Toronto electrical engineering graduate, began the corporate with accomplice James Hoover three years after the nailbiter 2000 U.S. presidential election — when paper poll outcomes led to "hanging chads" and disputes within the important swing state of Florida.

A U.S. Supreme Court docket resolution finally led to a conclusion, and a Republican victory, however there have been additionally controversies, albeit smaller in scope, with Diebold voting machines within the 2004 presidential election.

The details about how Dominion machines labored was extensively out there by the point of the 2020 election, as Poulos had given testimony to authorities committees throughout North America. Whereas not utilized by on the federal degree by Elections Canada, Dominion has been utilized in a lot of provincial and municipal elections.

Many Trump supporters and Republican officers have been surprised when Joe Biden amassed 81 million votes to win the 2020 election, and so they have been notably incensed in regards to the counting of ballots previous the Nov. 3 election date. Trump prematurely declared himself the winner on election evening and amassed extra votes as they have been counted within the first hours and days, however the Biden complete surpassed his in a vote held because the COVID-19 pandemic raged and vaccines weren't but out there.

However recounts, evaluations and audits within the battleground states the place he disputed his loss all affirmed Biden's victory. Judges, together with some Trump appointed, rejected dozens of his authorized challenges.

Allegations unfold about Dominion and Smartmatic, one other voting know-how firm. Powell propagated an outlandish principle that Dominion's origins have been in Venezuela, with connections to the late autocrat Hugo Chavez.

One subsequent examine concluded that postelection audits "shifted the online presidential vote depend by solely about 0.007 per cent."

Former election official focused Chris Krebs, a Trump appointee who headed the Division of Homeland Safety's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company (CISA), characterised the election in November 2020 as "probably the most safe in American historical past." He was fired weeks later, and this previous April it was revealed that Trump had signed a memoranda directing the Justice Division to research Krebs, on unspecified grounds.

William Barr, legal professional normal on the time of the election and as much as that time a staunch defender of Trump, instructed The Related Press in December 2020 that there was no proof of widespread fraud that will have modified the election outcome. Barr later instructed a congressional committee that the claims have been "bullshit."

<img loading="lazy" alt="A man's cleanshaven face is shown in extreme closeup as he speaks." srcset="https://i.cbc.ca/ais/6189b07e-ceee-4f0f-a356-18dbc331d69f,1760115141499/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C5605%2C3737%29%3BResize%3D805 805w,https://i.cbc.ca/ais/6189b07e-ceee-4f0f-a356-18dbc331d69f,1760115141499/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C5605%2C3737%29%3BResize%3D1104 1104w,https://i.cbc.ca/ais/6189b07e-ceee-4f0f-a356-18dbc331d69f,1760115141499/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C5605%2C3737%29%3BResize%3D1280 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 762px) 93.6vw,730px" src="https://i.cbc.ca/ais/6189b07e-ceee-4f0f-a356-18dbc331d69f,1760115141499/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C5605%2C3737%29%3B" style="aspect-ratio:1.4998662028365" data-cy="image-img"/> Former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company director Chris Krebs, seen testifying in Congress on Dec. 16, 2020, ran afoul of Donald Trump by asserting that 12 months's presidential election was safe. (Jim Lo Scalzo/Reuters) Nonetheless, a lot of Trump supporters descended on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to forestall the certification of Biden's victory.

On the time of the 2020 vote, counties in over 20 states within the decentralized American election administration system used Dominion machines.

Trump, in his second, non-consecutive time period as president, continues to insist the vote 5 years in the past was "rigged." Trump's victories within the 2016 and the 2024 election additionally occurred with Dominion know-how being employed throughout a number of jurisdictions.

There has by no means been a coherent rationalization as to how the vote complete for the presidential race alone was corrupted whereas congressional, gubernatorial and myriad different races on 2020 ballots have been unaffected or contested with out incident.

Poulos in 2023 instructed 60 Minutes that the allegations subjected the corporate's staff to electronic mail and cellphone threats and harassment. One among its former staff prevailed in a civil trial in July, with a federal jury discovering that staunch Trump ally Mike Lindell, the founding father of the MyPillow firm, defamed him.

Smartmatic additionally filed defamation lawsuits in opposition to a lot of Republican people and entities stemming from the 2020 election.

The discharge from Liberty Vote vows to reintroduce "hand-marked paper ballots" and alter firm insurance policies to comply with a current Trump govt order on voting procedures

A part of the president's order sought to ban voting tools that produces a paper document with "a barcode or quick-response code" — tools that's at present in use in lots of of counties throughout 19 states, in keeping with an Related Press report.

Trump's govt order has been challenged by Democratic state attorneys normal, the Democratic Nationwide Committee and a number of other civil rights and voting organizations.