One Republican Now Controls a Huge Chunk of US Election Infrastructure

The news last week that Dominion Voting Systems was purchased by nan laminitis and CEO of Knowink, a Missouri-based shaper of physics canvass books, has near predetermination integrity activists confused complete what, if anything, this could mean for voters and nan integrity of US elections.

The company, acquired by Scott Leiendecker, a erstwhile Republican Party operative and predetermination head successful Missouri earlier founding Knowink, said successful a property merchandise that he was rebranding Dominion, which has office successful Canada and nan United States, nether nan sanction Liberty Vote “in a bold and historical move to toggle shape and amended predetermination integrity successful America” and to region nan institution from mendacious allegations made antecedently by President Donald Trump and his supporters that nan institution had rigged nan 2020 statesmanlike predetermination to springiness nan triumph to President Joe Biden.

The Liberty merchandise said that nan rebranded institution will beryllium 100 percent American-owned, that it will person a “paper ballot focus” that leverages hand-marked insubstantial ballots, will “prioritize facilitating third-party auditing,” and is “committed to home staffing and package development.” The property merchandise provided nary details, however, to explicate what this intends successful practice.

Dominion, nan 2nd starring supplier of voting machines successful nan US, whose systems are utilized successful 27 states—including nan full authorities of Georgia—has developed its package successful Canada and Belgrade, Serbia, for 2 decades. A hunt connected LinkedIn shows galore programmers and different workers successful Serbia who declare to beryllium employed by nan company.

The Liberty connection does not opportunity whether nan institution plans to rewrite codification developed by these overseas workers—which would perchance impact rewriting hundreds of thousands of lines of code—or whether nan institution will move overseas developers to nan US aliases switch them pinch American programmers. (Dominion has a US office successful Colorado.) A Liberty official, who agreed to speak connected nan information that they not beryllium named, told WIRED only that Leiendecker “is committed to 100 percent … home staffing and package development.” An unnamed root told CNN, however, that Liberty will continue to person a presence successful Canada, wherever its machines are utilized crossed nan country.

Philip Stark, professor of statistic astatine UC Berkeley and a longtime election-integrity advocate, says Liberty’s assurance astir domestic-only workers is simply a reddish herring. “If nan declare is that this is someway a information measure, it isn’t. Because programmers based successful nan US besides … whitethorn beryllium willing successful undermining aliases altering predetermination integrity,” he tells WIRED.

With respect to third-party audits mentioned successful nan property release, a Liberty charismatic told WIRED this intends nan institution will behaviour a “third-party, top-to-bottom, independent reappraisal of [Dominion] package and instrumentality successful a timely mode and will activity intimately pinch national and authorities certification agencies and study immoderate vulnerabilities” to springiness voters assurance successful nan machines and nan results they produce. The institution didn’t opportunity erstwhile this reappraisal would occur, but a Liberty typical told Axios it would hap up of adjacent year's midterm elections, and nan institution would "rebuild aliases retire" machines arsenic needed.