Dominion Voting systems, used by 27 states, including New Mexico, decided to sell despite settling its defamation suit against Fox News for nearly $800 million in April 2023.
Its reputation still suffered fierce headwinds from the false claim that it rigged the 2020 election.
According to a St. Louis Today article (linked at the end), Dominion approached Liberty Vote with the suggestion that it buy them. Dominion had worked with Liberty Vote for many years and trusted them.
The purchase happened October 2025, and various news outlets, including Axios (linked at the end of this article), pointed out the owner’s Republican connections. The article states that “Liberty does appear to be aligning itself with Trump’s vision for a paper ballot-centered election system.”
“Leiendecker told Axios in a statement that his company is ‘committed to delivering election technology that prioritizes paper-based transparency, security and simplicity so that voters can be assured that every ballot is filled-in accurately and fairly counted.’”
The Citizen received concerned emails about Liberty Vote soon after Sierra County Clerk Amy Whitehead sent out a legal notice on Sept. 16 stating Liberty Vote voting machines would be certified on Sept. 22 at 10 a.m. at county chambers.
The Citizen asked Whitehead the following:
What will the certification of machines consist of on Sept. 22?
Are they the same Dominion voting machines? Were they worked on or updated or changed by Liberty Vote?
Did the Secretary of State choose to just continue with Liberty Vote after it purchased Dominion without going through a formal certification process? I read that normally the voting systems certification board only recertifies or switches voting systems the year after a presidential election, which predated Liberty Vote’s purchase of Dominion.
Various Oct. 2025 articles state that Liberty Vote would check out all Dominion machines and change or retire them as necessary. Did they come to Sierra County to evaluate its machines? Supposedly this was to be done in time for the upcoming midterm election.
Here are Whitehead’s answers:
Liberty Vote purchased Dominion Voting systems in October of 2025. It is the same machines and the same Certified Democracy Suite systems 5.17 and 5.20 as used previous to the purchase.
New Mexico conducted the required post-presidential-election recertification as required and the 2025 report says Dominion Democracy Suite 5.17s had originally been certified June 30, 2023.
For the 2025 recertification, the SOS reported that there had been NO modification to the existing hardware or software, other than an engineering change adding another server model.
Then on August 13, 2025, the Voting System Certification Committee held a public meeting. The agenda specifically included:
“Discussion & Vote to recertify voting systems- Dominion Democracy Suite 5.17s”
So, NM did go through its formal recertification process for Dominion in 2025.
Liberty Vote did not acquire Dominion until October 9, 2025- almost 2 months later. The certification still stands and there is nothing in NM law that expressly says a sale or change in ownership of the manufacturer automatically voids certification.
New Mexico law focuses heavily on the “Voting system” itself–the equipment, software and firmware–rather than simply the corporate owner.
“Certification follows the system configuration, not the ownership structure of the vendor”. The acquisition did not invalidate NM’s existing certification because the software, firmware and hardware have not changed.
For reference–the Certification information can always be found on the SOS website.
As for Liberty Vote “checking out” all voting machines after purchase–We have continued business as usual and In NM law, the County Clerk has a specific statutory duty to prepare, test, inspect, certify, and seal the voting machines used for an election.
This is separate from the SOS’s statewide certification of a voting system/model and happens beginning 42 days before any election.
This is what I put the memo out for (also required by statute) and will be performing on Tuesday. By law–it must be open to the public.
And, before every election, Liberty Vote travels to each County Clerk’s location and performs “preventative maintenance” on each machine. For Sierra County, this took place on August 25, 2026.
All of Sierra County’s machines are up to date and in working order.
On Tuesday, I, as the Clerk, will ensure that the printer rollers are clean, the time and date are correct and each machine begins at 0 (zero). I will make sure there is fresh ink in each one, a new roll of paper for the receipt printer, the memory cards are installed and sealed with a tamper resistant seal. I will produce a certification certificate for each machine–signed and sealed by me as required by statute.
I hope this answers your questions and puts the Voters at ease,
https://www.axios.com/2025/10/09/dominion-voting-machines-sold-elections