Controlling the Midterm Election Machinery
Flooding the Zone to Submerge the Threat
Democrats will prevail in the midterms only if we wake up to the attempts to control the basic machinery that runs our elections. The biggest threat to election integrity has been hidden under the “flood the zone” tactics of Republicans, distracting us with the Epstein files, shutdown, destruction of the East Wing, attacks on “narco” fishing boats… The list is endless. We should be raising the alarm that a Republican election operative has bought Dominion Voting Systems, as reported by NPR on October 9, 2025. It is just one piece of a much larger effort that could make Trump’s promise of never having to vote again a reality.
Dominion has been renamed Liberty Vote. Dominion is the company that Republicans said was involved in voter fraud and that subsequently sued Rudi Guiliani and Sidney Powell for defamation. Just a few days earlier, on September 27, 2025, ABC News reported that Dominion reached a “confidential settlement” with Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, who were the defendants in defamation suits brought by Dominion. Clearly, the deal had to have been in the works as part of the purchase of Dominion. This raises the possibility that the company is now in the hands of election-denier-friendly folk.
The company is now being transformed. According to NPR: A press release “makes a couple of nods to conservative election priorities, including calling the acquisition “a bold and historic move to transform and improve election integrity in America.” Conservatives in recent years have used the phrase “election integrity” and talked about increasing faith in the nation’s voting systems.”
https://www.npr.org/2025/10/09/nx-s1-5569817/dominion-voting-liberty-vote-false-claims
Here is a statement fro the companies CEO from its website with my emphasis
https://libertyvote.com/:
My Fellow Americans,
Today, I am proud to announce Liberty Vote — a 100% American‐owned election technology company dedicated to restoring trust in our elections. Our mission is clear: every vote must be secure, fair, and verifiable.
I have spent my life working to strengthen America’s elections. That commitment began years ago, in the aftermath of the 2000 election, when I worked for the Missouri Secretary of State. Later, as Election Director in St. Louis, I led the effort to modernize outdated systems and rebuild public trust. Eventually, I founded an election technology company that today serves nearly one in four voters nationwide.
With Liberty Vote, we are building on that legacy. We are turning the page and beginning the vital work of restoring faith in American elections. While these changes will not happen overnight, Liberty Vote’s mission is rooted in American values and committed to transparency, independent audits, and verifiable paper records.
Our purpose is simple: to ensure that America’s elections are secure, fair, and honest.
Scott Leiendecker
Founder and Chairman, Liberty Vote
Scott is clearly proud of his work for the Missouri Secretary of State in the 2020 elections. That was Jay Ashcroft, who, according to Wikipedia, is a dyed-in-the-wool believer in widespread election fraud.
Ashcroft is a staunch supporter of stricter voter ID laws. Ashcroft’s claims about voter fraud, as well as the need for photo ID laws to combat voter fraud, were a central aspect of his 2016 campaign for the office of Missouri Secretary of State.[13] He has asserted that voter fraud is common enough to have “changed elections.”[14][15][16] Election fraud did change the outcome in a Kansas City election when an aunt and uncle voted illegally for a state representative who won by one vote.[17] The type of voter fraud that would be addressed through Ashcroft’s preferred legislation, which critics say suppresses turnout,[18] is extremely rare.[19][20] In defending a push for stricter photo-ID laws, Ashcroft cited one instance where a couple illegally voted, but omitted that the photo-ID laws that Ashcroft was advocating for would not have prevented the couple from voting.[20] According to the Kansas City Star, “there has never been a reported case of voter impersonation fraud in Missouri.”[13] In June 2018, Ashcroft said that voter fraud was “an exponentially greater threat than hacking.”[13]
On July 3, 2017, Ashcroft said that he would comply with a request by the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, a commission appointed by Trump to investigate supposed voter fraud, to a request for Missourians voting data.[21] At the time, Missouri was one of only three states to comply with the commission - which was required by Missouri law.[22] Officials of both parties in many states declined to turn over data to the commission, variously citing voter privacy and stating that the commission would legitimize Trump’s claims of massive voter fraud.[21][23] He said he would give out voters’ names, addresses, birthdates, where they voted and when, also required by Missouri law.[22][24]
Ashcroft has backed a number of Republican proposals to reduce the number of Missouri ballot initiative petitions and make it harder for ballot initiatives to win approval in elections.[25]
In March 2023, Ashcroft announced that he is withdrawing Missouri from Electronic Registration Information Center, a bipartisan system to update and improve the accuracy of voter rolls.[26] His office declined to share reports from the decision or cyber security reviews on elections with the state auditor, leading to a “fair” rating in an audit released in February 2024.[27]
Lieindecker owns another election-related company, KNOWiNK. On February 25, 2025, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) announced the first federally certified electronic poll book during the agency’s public hearing on election technology. KNOWiNK’s Poll Pad 3.6 is the first to complete the EAC’s Voluntary Electronic Poll Book Certification Program.”
E-poll books provide electronic access to and verification of voter registration rolls.
As reported by ABC News and Wired in mid-October 2025, “both companies are now owned by Former GOP operative Scott Leiendecker, (who) just bought Dominion Voting Systems, giving him ownership of voting systems used in 27 states. Election experts don’t know what to think.”
Liberty Vote (the new rebranding of Dominion ) has its corporate headquarters in Colorado. According to local Colorado news outlet CPR, “The company’s new CEO, Scott Leiendecker, promised to comply with President Trump’s executive order on election security (Colorado is part of a lawsuit arguing the order is unconstitutional).”
https://www.cpr.org/2025/10/16/election-officials-react-dominion-voting-sale/
According to Wired:
“With regard to third-party audits mentioned in the press release, a Liberty official told WIRED this means the company will conduct a “third-party, top-to-bottom, independent review of [Dominion] software and equipment in a timely manner and will work closely with federal and state certification agencies and report any vulnerabilities” to give voters assurance in the machines and the results they produce. The company didn’t say when this review would occur, but a Liberty representative told Axios it would happen ahead of next year’s midterm elections, and the company would “rebuild or retire” machines as needed.” (Emphasis mine.)
It’s important to note that contracts with Liberty Vote can be at the country level, so the alarm has to be raised locally, as well at the state and national levels.
https://www.wired.com/story/scott-leiendecker-dominion-liberty-votes/
As Steve Bannon says, “flood the zone.” In this case, the biggest threats to election integrity in the midterms and beyond sank in the recent news flood with little attention. This new information must be put in the context of Trump’s efforts to gut the government agencies that oversee election integrity, starting in February 2025.
https://www.votebeat.org/2025/02/27/cisa-election-cybersecurity-homeland-kristi-noem/
Every American who cares about saving our Democracy has to contact their Democratic members of Congress, state representatives, and county election officials to investigate this threat. Control of both access and verification of voter registration rolls and voting machines by a single Trump-aligned owner in a large portion of the US is unacceptable, especially when Trump has issued executive orders that dismantle the voter integrity operations of the government.
TIME IS SHORT!
Perplexity AI's synopsis answering the query "Is Scott Lieindecker linked to the Liberty Movement?" The Liberty Movement is a a project of the Heritage Foundation.
https://coalitionforliberty.com/liberty-directory
Scott Leiendecker, a former Republican election official from St. Louis and founder of Knowink, is directly linked to the newly created Liberty Vote entity, which acquired Dominion Voting Systems in late 2025. Liberty Vote is positioned as a major player in the election technology sector with a focus on "election integrity," transparent systems, and the use of hand-marked paper ballots—central themes often associated with the Liberty Movement and similar conservative election reform groups.
Liberty Movement Connection
Leiendecker is using language and pursuing policies strongly resonant with the Liberty Movement, such as advocating for hand-marked paper ballots and rejecting QR/barcoded ballots, referencing President Donald Trump’s executive order on election integrity.
The rebranding of Dominion as "Liberty Vote" is intended to distance the company from the controversies of the 2020 election and appeals to election skepticism from liberty-oriented conservative factions.
Leiendecker’s public statements stress transparency, security, and restoring trust in U.S. elections, which closely align with the stated aims of the Liberty Movement.
Political Affiliations and Influence
Though not a formal member of a specific "Liberty Movement" organization, Leiendecker is closely networked with Republican and conservative political circles, offering testimony to Congress and collaborating with figures like Ed Martin, a well-known Trump supporter.
His focus on election reform and hand-marked ballots situates him within the current conservatively-branded Liberty Movement’s campaign for restricting electronic-only voting and encouraging strict auditability standards.
In summary, Scott Leiendecker is strongly associated with the Liberty Movement through his leadership of Liberty Vote, advocacy for conservative election reforms, and alignment with its core values and language, even if he is not a founding activist or public figure from the earliest days of the movement.
I was stuck by a reply to my comment on Heather Cox Richardson's Substack which was a shorter version of this post. The writer said she felt hopeless hearing about this. Below is my response which is a brain dump of everything we can personally do to ensure there is election integrity at the midterms.
We can’t afford to feel hopeless. What you can do is first call your county election board and find out what voting machines they are using. Given that Lieindecker says he is going to follow Trump’s executive order for the midterms that may mean paper ballots. Find out if there is a contract review and timelines for testing machines and any software upgrades. Find out if Liberty voting can, under their contracts with the county , revert to paper ballots.
If there is any possibiity that Liberty Vote can be involved in your county, demand answers and inform your county representatives and state representatives what you find out. Ask your state representatives if there is any voting legislation that is being proposed, Ask to be sent copies of proposed legislation and read and give your reps feedback. The states control the means and methods for elections. Find out if the Republicans in your state will press for legislation that embodies what is in Trump’s wish list for changes in voting. Find out the latest that REpublican majority state legislatures can enact changes to voting procedures.
Find out if they are going to use the KNOWiNK electronic poll book and whether it will be to send out sample ballots, mail-in ballots, or on-site voter ID verification at the polls on Election Day. Ask what procedures they are going to use to verify performance ahead of election day, and when and how they are going to purge the voter rolls.
Share everything you find out with your local Democratic organizations. Sign up for voter canvassing, work with bipartisan voter registration drives especially among first time voters. Offer to organize free transportation to the polls. If there is mail-in voting in your state, push to make sure that ballots are mailed 10 days ahead of Election Day so they are not late, and ask candidates to move up their platform documents and townhalls to meet that earlier timeline.
Voting is one place where many hu many of us can be actively involved in seeing that the vote is carried out fairly in every single precinct in America. In 2020, there were 176,933 precincts in the United States, We need at least that many pairs of eyes to be “Guardians of the Vote” ensure election integrity and many times more to get that vote out, educate people on procedures and issues, and transport them to the polls.