The Ongoing Consolidation of U.S. Election Tech Vendors: A Web of Hidden Ties and Emerging Monopolies
From Dominion’s Rebranding to Liberty Vote – Echoes of Infiltration in Cobb County and Beyond
Folks, if you’ve been following our deep dives into election integrity here at George News, you know we’ve been sounding the alarm on the shadowy forces infiltrating our democratic processes. Remember our exposés on “The Invisible Candidate” and “Two Faces of Ideological Legacy: Noor Bin Ladin vs. Sophia Farooq”? Those pieces uncovered how figures with unverifiable backgrounds and ties to extremist ideologies were worming their way into local GOP leadership in Cobb County, Georgia – a microcosm of broader vulnerabilities in our election systems. Now, a new investigative review by Holly Kesler at Kesler Consulting pulls back the curtain on an even more alarming trend: the unchecked consolidation of election technology vendors. This isn’t just about machines; it’s about control, foreign influences, and the erosion of transparency that could make those Cobb County infiltrations look like child’s play.
Dominion Voting Systems machines, now under Liberty Vote ownership – but at what cost to transparency?
Let’s break this down. Despite the controversies swirling around U.S. election tech – from rigged claims to foreign data storage – key players are merging faster than you can say “recount.” The bombshell? On October 9, 2025, Dominion Voting Systems was snapped up by Liberty Vote, a fresh entity founded and solely owned by KNOWiNK CEO Scott Leiendecker. This isn’t a minor shuffle; it’s a full-on restructuring that folds voter registration, pollbooks, tabulation, and reporting under one private roof. Leiendecker, a former Republican elections director in St. Louis, promises “paper-based transparency” and third-party audits, even dropping ongoing lawsuits against conservatives. But as Holly’s white paper reveals, this move raises more red flags than it resolves.
KNOWiNK’s Rise: From Poll Pads to Power Grabs
Founded in 2011 by Leiendecker in St. Louis, KNOWiNK dominates the electronic pollbook market with its Poll Pad, used in thousands of jurisdictions. But its growth isn’t all homegrown innovation. In 2021, it acquired BPro, snagging the TotalVote platform – a powerhouse for voter registration, ballot design, and state database integration across at least 15 states. Dig deeper, and you find a trail of patents and assets absorbed from dissolved vendors, some with foreign links.
Patent Shenanigans: Leiendecker’s ballot validation patents were first assigned to Tally LLC (his own creation, dissolved in 2021) before landing at KNOWiNK. Some credit Martin White of Election Administrators LLC, which peddled similar pollbook tech before vanishing in 2016.
Tech Origins and Acquisitions: These systems echo offerings from Scytl/SOE and Konnech – the latter infamous for CEO Eugene Yu’s charges over storing U.S. election data on Chinese servers. Through a chain (Konnech → Votem → Everyone Counts → KNOWiNK), voter registration tech flowed right into Leiendecker’s portfolio, blurring lines and hiding potential backdoors.
This absorption of foreign-linked assets isn’t just corporate chess; it’s a recipe for systemic vulnerabilities, as Holly points out. And with Liberty Vote now controlling Dominion’s ImageCast hardware alongside KNOWiNK’s software, we’re looking at an end-to-end pipeline under one owner. New Mexico’s hybrid setup – Dominion tabulators plus TotalVote for registration – is now fully in Liberty Vote’s hands, centralizing control in ways that scream monopoly.
Vendor Overlaps: ES&S, LHS, and the Blurred Lines
Holly’s review doesn’t stop at KNOWiNK-Dominion. It spotlights connections with ES&S (Election Systems & Software) and LHS Associates, painting a picture of a tightly knit ecosystem:
These ties highlight fragility: resellers like LHS muddy accountability, while ES&S and KNOWiNK’s rivalries mask interdependencies. As one X post noted, Liberty Vote’s acquisition promises U.S. ownership and paper ballots – but with TotalVote still cloud-hosted on Microsoft Azure (hit by Chinese hackers), and Dominion’s history of Serbian developers, foreign software heritage lingers.
Close-up of Dominion hardware – rebranded, but vulnerabilities persist?
Security Red Flags: Centralization, Cyber Risks, and Foreign Shadows
Researchers, including Holly, flag six big issues:
Power Consolidation: Fewer vendors mean less competition and oversight.
Cyber Vulnerabilities: Azure’s breaches expose data.
Foreign Heritage: Konnech’s China links and Dominion’s overseas devs raise sovereignty alarms.
Oversight Gaps: Non-competitive contracts, like New Mexico’s $52M Dominion deal.
Interdependencies: Resellers blur who’s responsible.
Hidden Assets: Acquisitions from dissolved firms create opaque dependencies.
This echoes our Cobb County coverage. In “The Invisible Candidate,” we exposed Sophia Farooq’s ties to APAX Partners – linked to election tech like NGP VAN. Her family’s Jamaat-e-Islami roots (designated terrorist group in most Arab nations) and unverifiable claims mirrored infiltration tactics. Similarly, “Two Faces of Ideological Legacy: Noor Bin Ladin vs. Sophia Farooq” contrasted Noor’s rejection of extremism with Farooq’s silence, warning of hidden agendas in local races. Now, with Liberty Vote’s rise, could these consolidations open doors for such influences? APAX’s election ties and Konnech’s foreign data storage suggest a web where tech monopolies amplify infiltration risks.
Policy Wake-Up Call
Holly Kesler calls for immediate action — demanding independent system certifications, transparent ownership, enforceable cybersecurity standards, procurement reform, full reseller disclosures, and patent tracking across all election technology.
Without these safeguards, we’re not protecting democracy — we’re surrendering it. A handful of private companies would hold the keys to our most sacred process, erasing the decentralized integrity our system was built upon.
That’s why hand-marked paper ballots must remain the foundation of American elections. They are the only verifiable, transparent, and tamper-resistant record of the voter’s true intent — free from proprietary code, cyber vulnerabilities, and corporate monopolies. In a time of digital overreach and centralized control, hand-marked paper ballots aren’t outdated — they’re our last line of defense for real election integrity.
Final Thoughts
Liberty Vote’s Dominion grab, hailed as a “new chapter” by Leiendecker, might sound patriotic. But as Holly’s white paper and our past reporting show, it’s part of a consolidation that hides foreign echoes and centralizes power. From Cobb County’s GOP infiltrations to nationwide tech mergers, the stakes couldn’t be higher. We need vigilance, not complacency. Stay tuned – George News will keep digging.
Prepared with insights from Holly Kesler’s October 2025 white paper. Links to prior stories: The Invisible Candidate and Two Faces of Ideological Legacy.