Dominion Voting Systems, newly acquired by a former GOP elections official, is moving to drop its $1.6 billion defamation suit against the owners of San Diego-based One America News.
The stunning news broke Thursday, but the outcome was telegraphed six days earlier — Oct. 3 — in a joint motion filed by OAN owner Herring Networks and Denver-based Dominion.
Both sides notified federal Judge Carl J. Nichols in Washington, D.C., that they sought to dismiss “all claims, counterclaims and causes of action” in the 4-year-old case.
“Each party shall bear its own attorneys’ fees, expenses, and costs,” said the stipulation of dismissal.
Dominion sued Herring Networks after OAN and its anchors and guests promoted lies about Dominion rigging the 2020 presidential election against Donald Trump.
In February 2023, OAN sued Dominion, AT&T and others in D.C. federal court, alleging “tortious interference” with its business, “an action to redress the unchecked influence and power that Counterclaim Defendants … have wielded in an attempt to unlawfully destroy an independent, family-run business and torch First Amendment freedoms.”
Dominion is now called Liberty Vote, owned by former St. Louis elections director Scott Leiendecker, who vowed to provide “election technology that prioritizes paper-based transparency,” one of the longtime demands of election conspiracy theorists.
(Almost all U.S. voting equipment already leaves a paper trail.)
The right-wing website Daily Caller said the Dominion deal included “dropping lawsuits against conservatives.” As of 10:30 p.m. Thursday, OAN’s website had yet to report the deal.
“Leiendecker further disclosed to the Caller that remaining litigation with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Trump campaign attorney Sidney Powell will be dropped by Dominion Voting Systems as part of the acquisition agreement,” the site said.
(The Daily Caller was co-founded in 2010 by former San Diegan Tucker Carlson, as a “conservative answer to The Huffington Post.”)
In a note posted on the former Dominion website, Leiendecker writes: “With Liberty Vote, … 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.”
Despite no evidence that Dominion did anything to throw the election to Joe Biden, as OAN alleged, Leiendecker added: “Our purpose is simple: to ensure that America’s elections are secure, fair and honest.”
Dominion, a voting equipment company that became a target of false conspiracy theories, was bought by a firm run by Leiendecker.
The newly formed company, Liberty Vote, also vowed to follow the executive order Trump signed last spring seeking sweeping changes to election policies that multiple judges have put on hold for violating the Constitution.
KNOWiNK, a St. Louis-based provider of electronic poll books that allow election officials to confirm voter information, announced the deal and the name change.
In a possible nod to a groundless conspiracy theory that linked Dominion to the late Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, the release highlighted that the company would become “100% American-owned.”
Dominion’s former CEO confirmed the sale in a single-sentence statement on Thursday: “Liberty Vote has acquired Dominion Voting Systems,” John Poulos said.
The release from the new company vows to reintroduce “hand-marked paper ballots” and adjust company policies to follow Trump’s executive order on voting procedures, which is not in effect because judges have ruled that Trump doesn’t have the power to mandate them.
Part of the president’s order sought to prohibit voting equipment that produces a paper record with “a barcode or quick-response code” — equipment that is currently in use in hundreds of counties across 19 states.
Denver-based Dominion was at the heart of some of the most fevered conspiracy theories about Trump’s loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
Those false allegations sparked a number of defamation lawsuits against conservative-leaning media and the president’s allies, including a settlement in 2023 in which Fox News agreed to pay Dominion $787 million and one this year that Newsmax settled for $67 million.
The announcement from the new company does not disclose the cost of the transaction, but a spokesman said all the money was put up by Leiendecker.
Both companies involved are privately held.
The false allegations against Dominion made its brand toxic in many Republican-leaning states and counties.
But voting machine companies are usually careful about making overt political statements, given that the market for their equipment is split between places under Republican and Democratic control.
The statements by Liberty Vote saying it will align with Trump’s executive order, which has been challenged by Democratic state attorneys general, the Democratic National Committee and an array of voting and civil rights groups, could lead to concerns in blue states that currently use Dominion equipment.
But some election officials said Thursday that KNOWiNK had seemed to steer clear of 2020 conspiracy theories and acted like a typical, nonpartisan firm.
“They have a good reputation in the field,” Stephen Richer, a Republican who was targeted by Trump and his allies when he served as the top elections official in Arizona’s Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix.
Despite years of detailed debunking of the Dominion conspiracy theories, Trump has continued to repeat them even as recently as a few weeks ago, when he vowed to get rid of voting machines.
The president doesn’t have the power to do that because the Constitution gives states and Congress the authority to set election and voting rules.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
