# Dominion Voting Systems The election technology company whose defamation lawsuit against [[Fox News]] produced the largest known media defamation settlement in U.S. history — **$787.5 million** — and, through discovery, the most revealing internal communications ever released from a major news organization. Dominion's voting machines became the central target of the 2020 election fraud conspiracy theory, despite no evidence of any manipulation. ## Background Founded in 2003 in Toronto, Canada, by CEO John Poulos, who started the company with a $50,000 check from his sister. Dominion grew into one of the largest election technology providers in the United States and Canada, providing voting machines, tabulators, and election management software. By 2020, Dominion's systems were used in 28 U.S. states. Dominion is a private company. It had no political profile whatsoever before November 2020. ## The Conspiracy Theory After the 2020 election, Trump allies — including [[Sidney Powell]], [[Rudy Giuliani]], and [[Mike Lindell]] — promoted claims that Dominion machines had been rigged to switch votes from Trump to Biden. The specific allegations included that Dominion was connected to Venezuelan dictator [[Hugo Chávez]], that its software was designed to manipulate vote counts, and that the company had ties to foreign governments. None of these claims were true, and no evidence was ever produced to support them. Fox News hosts and guests amplified these claims extensively. [[Jeanine Pirro]] was among the most aggressive promoters. Fox executives privately called her a "reckless maniac" for her on-air claims but continued airing them because they feared losing audience to competitors like [[Newsmax]]. ## The Fox News Lawsuit Dominion filed a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News in March 2021 in Delaware Superior Court. The case produced extraordinary discovery: **What discovery revealed:** - Fox hosts privately doubted the election fraud claims they promoted on air - [[Tucker Carlson]] privately mocked Trump allies and doubted the fraud narrative - [[Rupert Murdoch]] acknowledged the claims were damaging and knew they were false - Fox made editorial decisions based on audience retention, not truth — executives feared that correcting the lies would drive viewers to [[Newsmax]] - [[Jeanine Pirro]]'s weekend show was pulled off the air the Saturday after the 2020 election because a senior executive said they "couldn't trust she would be responsible" - Internal communications showed a network that knowingly chose to broadcast lies to protect its commercial position **Summary judgment (March 31, 2023):** Judge Eric M. Davis ruled that none of the disputed statements Fox News made about Dominion were true, and ordered a trial to determine whether Fox had acted with actual malice. **Settlement (April 18, 2023):** As opening statements were about to begin, Fox settled for **$787.5 million** — roughly half of Dominion's $1.6 billion ask. Fox acknowledged the court's ruling that it had broadcast false statements. Fox did not apologize. [[Lachlan Murdoch]] told investors there would be "no change" in programming strategy. ## Other Lawsuits Dominion also filed defamation lawsuits against: - **[[Sidney Powell]]** — $1.3 billion (Powell pled guilty in Georgia RICO case) - **[[Rudy Giuliani]]** — $1.3 billion - **[[Mike Lindell]]/MyPillow** — $1.3 billion - **[[Newsmax]]** — settled (terms undisclosed) - **Patrick Byrne** (former Overstock.com CEO) ## Sale and Renaming (October 2025) In October 2025, Dominion was sold to Scott Leiendecker, a former Republican Missouri election official and leader of e-pollbook manufacturer KnowInk. The company was renamed **Liberty Vote**. Leiendecker became the sole private owner, financing the deal privately. He said he would push for paper ballots as part of the company's future direction. The sale effectively ended Dominion Voting Systems as a brand — the name had become so poisoned by the conspiracy theory that operating under it was commercially unviable, even after the company had been completely vindicated in court. ## Analytical Framework Dominion's story is the clearest proof in the KB that the conservative media ecosystem operates on commercial incentives rather than truth. Fox News knew the claims about Dominion were false. Fox executives said so in private. Fox aired them anyway because the alternative — telling the audience the truth — risked losing viewers. The $787.5 million settlement was the cost of that calculation. The deeper lesson: Dominion won the lawsuit but lost the war. The conspiracy theory persists. The company was forced to rebrand. The hosts who promoted the lies suffered no personal consequences — [[Jeanine Pirro]] was promoted to U.S. Attorney. The settlement was paid by shareholders, not by the individuals who made the editorial decisions. ## The 2025 sale and the Liberty Vote rename In **October 2025** Dominion was acquired by **[[Scott Leiendecker]]** — a former Republican election official who had been director of elections for the City of St. Louis, and the founder of the Missouri election-technology firm KNOWiNK, which sells electronic poll books — and renamed **Liberty Vote**. On acquisition Leiendecker said he would push the company toward paper ballots. This page covers the company under both names; `Liberty Vote` is an alias of this page. Two things are worth holding onto about the rename. The proper noun that carried five years of [[Election Denialism]] — and that won a **$787.5 million** defamation settlement from [[Fox News]] in April 2023 — is no longer the company's name. But the installed base did not change with it: a county running Dominion equipment in 2024 is a county running Liberty Vote equipment in 2026. The first notable operational event under the new name came in the **August 2026 Wisconsin primary**, when modem transmission of unofficial results failed in **Green** and **Winnebago** counties, both running the company's equipment. One county reverted to telephoning its 24 municipal clerks and did not have complete results until late the following morning; the other told municipal clerks to drive the results in and had them the same night. Mapped at [[How Election Results Are Transmitted and Reported]], stage 3(b) and closing block C. ## See Also - [[Fox News]] — The network that paid $787.5 million for broadcasting lies about Dominion - [[How Election Results Are Transmitted and Reported]] — Where the renamed company's modems failed in two Wisconsin counties in the August 2026 primary - [[Smartmatic]] — The other election technology company suing Fox ($2.7 billion, pending) - [[Jeanine Pirro]] — Dominion defendant who became U.S. Attorney - [[Sidney Powell]] — Most aggressive promoter of Dominion conspiracy theories - [[Mike Lindell]] — Self-funded Dominion conspiracy propagandist - [[Stop the Steal]] — The broader conspiracy framework that targeted Dominion