Voting gear firm Dominion Voting Techniques, a goal of false conspiracy theories from President Donald Trump and his supporters for the reason that 2020 election, has been purchased by a agency run by a former Republican elections official, the brand new firm introduced Thursday.
The newly shaped firm, Liberty Vote, additionally vowed to observe the govt order Trump signed final spring in search of sweeping modifications to election insurance policies that a number of judges have placed on maintain for violating the Structure.
KNOWiNK, a St. Louis-based supplier of digital ballot books that permit election officers to substantiate voter data, introduced the deal and the identify change. In a attainable nod to a groundless conspiracy concept that linked Dominion to the late Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, the discharge highlighted that the corporate would turn into “100% American-owned.”
The announcement additionally quotes KNOWiNK’s proprietor, former St. Louis elections director Scott Leiendecker, as vowing to offer “election technology that prioritizes paper-based transparency,” one of many longtime calls for of election conspiracy theorists. Nearly all U.S. voting gear already leaves a paper path.
Dominion’s former CEO confirmed the sale in a single-sentence assertion on Thursday: “Liberty Vote has acquired Dominion Voting Systems,” John Poulos stated.
The discharge from the brand new firm vows to reintroduce “hand-marked paper ballots” and alter firm insurance policies to observe Trump’s govt order on voting procedures, which isn’t in impact as a result of judges have dominated that Trump doesn’t have the facility to mandate them. A part of the president’s order sought to ban voting gear that produces a paper document with “a barcode or quick-response code” — gear that’s at present in use in lots of of counties throughout 19 states.
The announcement from the brand new firm doesn’t disclose the price of the transaction, however a spokesman stated all the cash was put up by Leiendecker. Each firms concerned are privately held.
The false allegations towards Dominion made its model poisonous in lots of Republican-leaning states and counties. However voting machine firms are often cautious about making overt political statements, provided that the marketplace for their gear is cut up between locations beneath Republican and Democratic management.
The statements by Liberty Vote saying it can align with Trump’s govt order, which has been challenged by Democratic state attorneys normal, the Democratic Nationwide Committee and an array of voting and civil rights teams, may result in considerations in blue states that at present use Dominion gear.
However some election officers stated Thursday that KNOWiNK had appeared to keep away from 2020 conspiracy theories and acted like a typical, nonpartisan agency.
“They have a good reputation in the field,” Stephen Richer, a Republican who was focused by Trump and his allies when he served as the highest elections official in Arizona’s Maricopa County, which incorporates Phoenix.
Regardless of years of detailed debunking of the Dominion conspiracy theories, Trump has continued to repeat them at the same time as not too long ago as just a few weeks in the past, when he vowed to eliminate voting machines. The president doesn’t have the facility to do this as a result of the Structure provides states and Congress the authority to set election and voting guidelines.
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