Dominion Voting Systems, once a relatively obscure name in the world of election technology, has again found itself in the national spotlight—this time, not for conspiracy theories, but for a dramatic change in ownership and direction. On October 9, 2025, Dominion was sold and immediately rebranded as Liberty Vote, a move that signals a new chapter for both the company and U.S. elections at large.
The sale brings the company under the control of Scott Leiendecker, a former Republican election official from St. Louis, Missouri, who has spent 25 years steeped in the world of election administration. Leiendecker is no stranger to the business: in 2011, he founded KNOWiNK, a company that revolutionized how poll workers verify voters and check them in at polling stations. According to Axios, KNOWiNK’s technology is now used in more than a third of U.S. states, with over 150 employees and $55 million in annual revenue.
Liberty Vote, the newly minted entity, is now fully American-owned—a notable shift, given Dominion’s roots as a Canadian company with offices in Toronto, Denver, and Dallas. The sale price remains undisclosed, but as CNN and The Hill reported, the deal was finalized in late September, and Dominion’s website now redirects to Liberty Vote’s homepage. Private equity firm Staple Street Capital, which had acquired a controlling interest in Dominion in 2018 for $38 million, has exited the scene.
Leiendecker’s acquisition is more than a simple business transaction. In a statement provided to ABC News, John Poulos, Dominion’s former CEO, confirmed, “Liberty Vote has acquired Dominion Voting Systems.” Leiendecker himself declared, “Liberty Vote signals a new chapter for American elections—one where trust is rebuilt from the ground up.” He added that his mission is to restore public confidence in the electoral process through secure voting systems, emphasizing “paper-based transparency, security, and simplicity so that voters can be assured that every ballot is filled-in accurately and fairly counted.”
That message is not accidental. Liberty Vote’s press release, as cited by CNN, laid out four core goals—many echoing priorities of the Trump administration and the broader conservative “election integrity” movement. Chief among them is a heavy emphasis on hand-marked paper ballots, a talking point favored by former President Donald Trump and his supporters, who have long expressed doubts about electronic voting systems. Liberty Vote also promises compliance with Trump’s 2025 executive order on election integrity, which mandates paper ballots and third-party audits, even though parts of that order have already been blocked by a federal judge and its constitutionality is under question.
“Liberty Vote is committed to domestic staffing and software development,” the company said in its release, promising to be “100% American owned.” Yet, the company will maintain a presence in Canada, according to sources familiar with the plans. Leiendecker’s previous company, KNOWiNK, will remain separate from Liberty Vote for now, but together, their systems touch over 40 states, as a Liberty Vote official told The Hill.
Leiendecker’s Republican ties run deep. Appointed by Missouri’s then-Republican Secretary of State Matt Blunt to investigate St. Louis’ elections after the 2000 debacle, Leiendecker later became the city’s Republican election director. His bipartisan reputation, however, is underscored by support from officials across the aisle. Axios reported that Nevada’s Democratic Secretary of State, Cisco Aguilar, described Leiendecker as “open, honest and transparent.”
Liberty Vote’s acquisition also comes with a promise of rigorous third-party auditing standards and a “top-down” review of Dominion’s existing equipment ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The company says it will “rebuild or retire” machines as needed, a move that will force states and localities to decide whether to stick with Liberty’s systems or look elsewhere.
This transition occurs against a backdrop of years of controversy for Dominion. After the 2020 presidential election, Dominion became the epicenter of false claims that its machines had been used to rig the election against Donald Trump. These baseless accusations spawned a wave of defamation lawsuits. According to ABC News and CNN, Dominion settled its lawsuit with Fox News in 2023 for a staggering $787 million—the largest publicly known defamation settlement involving a media company in U.S. history. Newsmax settled for $67 million in August 2025, and in recent weeks, Dominion also reached undisclosed settlements with former Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, as well as One America News Network. Dominion’s lawsuits against Mike Lindell and Patrick Byrne remain pending.
The sale and rebranding of Dominion as Liberty Vote is already raising eyebrows among election officials and experts. David Becker, who runs the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research, told CNN, “This announcement raises a lot of questions, questions that I’m sure a lot of states with current Dominion contracts are going to want answers to.” Becker also pointed out that KNOWiNK, Leiendecker’s other company, has a strong track record across red and blue states alike, primarily providing electronic poll books and voter database systems.
Liberty Vote’s messaging has clearly struck a chord with the pro-Trump “America First” movement. The company is represented by Logan Circle Group, a consulting firm that touts conservative values and features images of Trump and other MAGA figures on its website. Still, Liberty Vote insists it will take a bipartisan approach as it seeks to restore faith in the country’s elections—a tall order, given the deep wounds of recent years.
It’s worth noting that, despite the new company’s emphasis on paper ballots, more than 98% of American voters already live in jurisdictions that produce fully auditable paper trails, as CNN has reported. Many states already conduct robust post-election audits, and the consensus among nonpartisan experts is that voter fraud remains exceedingly rare.
Liberty Vote’s future will depend on its ability to navigate these political crosscurrents while delivering on its promises of transparency and security. States with existing Dominion contracts will face choices about whether to stick with the new regime or seek alternatives. Meanwhile, the broader debate over election integrity—fueled by both legitimate concerns and persistent misinformation—shows no sign of abating.
For now, one era has ended and another has begun. As Dominion fades into history, Liberty Vote steps forward, pledging to rebuild trust in American democracy from the ground up—one ballot at a time.
