Scoop: Dominion Voting sold to company run by ex-GOP election official

Dominion Voting Systems — the voting machine behemoth that President Trump and his allies baselessly attacked after the 2020 election — has been sold to a Missouri-based company run by a former Republican election official, Axios has learned.Why it matters: Dominion is one of the biggest election equipment providers and was used by 27 states during the 2024 election.Zoom in: Liberty Vote purchased Canada-based Dominion for an undisclosed sum, according to a person familiar with the transaction.Liberty is a new company owned by Scott Leiendecker, who in 2011 created a software program focused on enabling election workers to verify voters and check them in at polling locations.According to Leiendecker's LinkedIn page, his company KNOWiNK has more than 150 employees and $55 million in annual revenue. The company says its systems are used by election officials in more than a third of U.S. states and describes itself as the "nation's leading provider of electronic poll books."Zoom out: Leiendecker also has deep Republican connections.Matt Blunt, who was then Missouri's Republican secretary of state, appointed Leiendecker to a role investigating St. Louis' elections administration after the 2000 election.As governor, Blunt later appointed Leiendecker to be St. Louis' Republican election director. Ed Martin, a loyal Trump surrogate, was St. Louis' Board of Elections' chair when Leiendecker was the city's election director. As interim U.S. attorney for D.C. in Trump's current administration, Martin demoted prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6 cases, pursued critics of Elon Musk's DOGE operation, and threatened Wikipedia over what he called biased "propaganda." Liberty Vote officials describe Leiendecker as a neutral arbiter. They provided to Axios a supportive statement from Nevada's Democratic secretary of state, Cisco Aguilar, who called Leiendecker "open, honest and transparent."Liberty does appear to be aligning itself with Trump's vision for a paper ballot-centered election system.For years Trump has cast doubt on the nation's election system, railing against voting machines, questioning their accuracy and calling for a transition to same-day, in-person voting using paper ballots.Election officials nationwide have said that their electronic voting systems are secure, and that paper-ballot systems would result in longer waits for results without enhancing security. What they're saying: Leiendecker told Axios in a statement that his company is "committed to delivering election technology that prioritizes paper-based transparency, security and simplicity so that voters can be assured that every ballot is filled-in accurately and fairly counted.""Liberty Vote signals a new chapter for American elections — one where trust is rebuilt from the ground up," he said. A Liberty representative said the organization will engage in a "top-down" review of Dominion's equipment ahead of next year's midterm elections, and that it would "rebuild or retire" machines as needed.States and localities that have used Dominion equipment in past elections now will have to decide whether to use Liberty's system in the future. A Dominion representative referred questions about the acquisition to Liberty officials.Flashback: Trump and his allies falsely accused Dominion of engaging in a plot to steal the 2020 election for Joe Biden. Dominion later sued Fox News, whose on-air personalities had echoed Trump's claims, for defamation. Fox settled the case in 2023, and paid Dominion $787.5 million.In August, Newsmax agreed to pay Dominion $67 million to settle a similar lawsuit. Even so, Dominion CEO John Poulos has said the attacks against his company severely damaged its reputation and jeopardized its future.The intrigue: As part of its deal with Dominion, Liberty officials asked Dominion to settle several other defamation lawsuits against Trump allies who attacked the company over the 2020 election results.In recent weeks, Dominion has reached undisclosed settlements with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell and One America News Network.Dominion had sued Giuliani and Powell for $1.3 billion each. It had sued OANN for $1.6 billion.Go deeper: Staple Street Partners, a New York-based private equity firm, has had a controlling interest in Dominion since 2018.A Liberty official said regulatory approval wouldn't be needed in its acquisition of Dominion.