By Phillip C. Parrish
LCDR, USN (Ret.) | Candidate for Governor of Minnesota, 2026
October 31, 2025
Fellow Minnesotans, Patriots, and Guardians of the Ballot Box,
On October 9, 2025, a bombshell dropped in the world of election technology: Scott Leiendecker—a Republican election veteran, former St. Louis election director (2005–2012), and founder of the $55 million e-pollbook giant KNOWiNK—quietly acquired Dominion Voting Systems through his new St. Louis-based entity, Liberty Vote. The deal, finalized after months of negotiation, rebrands Dominion as Liberty Vote and promises a full overhaul of its operations with one clear priority: ditching electronic vulnerabilities in favor of hand-marked paper ballots and unbreakable transparency.
Leiendecker, who built KNOWiNK into a trusted system used in 29 states and D.C., didn’t buy Dominion to expand its tech empire. He bought it to rein it in. “Liberty Vote signals a new chapter for American elections—one where trust is rebuilt from the ground up,” he said in a statement. His plan? A top-down review of all equipment—rebuild what works, retire what doesn’t—and a nationwide push for paper-based systems that can’t be hacked, glitched, or manipulated from afar.
This isn’t just a business deal. It’s a seismic shift in election integrity—and it lands like a thunderclap in Minnesota, where I’ve been sounding the alarm on our own broken systems for months. As your Candidate for Governor in 2026—a retired Navy Lieutenant Commander with two decades in counterterrorism, a farmer, and a teacher—I’ve made securing your vote my North Star. From bloated voter rolls to foreign software risks, Minnesota’s elections are a tinderbox. Leiendecker’s move validates every warning I’ve issued—and proves that paper ballots are the only path to trust.
The Dominion Acquisition: From Conspiracy Target to Paper Ballot Pioneer
Leiendecker’s credentials are ironclad. A GOP operative with bipartisan respect, he’s been praised by Nevada’s Democratic Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar as “open, honest, and transparent.” His company, KNOWiNK, revolutionized voter check-in with secure, user-friendly tech. Now, he’s turning that expertise toward fixing the very machines that fueled distrust.
Dominion—used in 27 states and Puerto Rico during the 2024 elections—has been cleared of fraud in every audit and court case since 2020. But the damage was done:
• Fox News paid $787.5 million in 2023.
• Newsmax settled for $67 million in 2024.
• OAN, Rudy Giuliani, and Sidney Powell reached undisclosed settlements in September–October 2025—a condition of the sale.
These weren’t admissions of fraud—but they were admissions that lies spread faster than facts. And lies erode trust.
Leiendecker gets it. His Liberty Vote platform demands:
• 100% American ownership (ending Dominion’s Canadian roots and Serbian/Canadian software development).
• Domestic staffing and code.
• Third-party audits.
• Hand-marked paper ballots as the gold standard.
He’s echoing Elon Musk’s X mantra: “Paper only—code can be rigged from anywhere.” States like Georgia are already moving bills to mandate hand-marked ballots. Why? Because paper leaves a trail you can audit by hand—and Dominion’s own 2020 recounts only worked because paper backups existed.
In a year when ransomware attacks hit over 300 government and healthcare targets (per CISA), electronic systems are sitting ducks. Leiendecker’s answer: Ink on paper. Chain of custody. Human eyes. No more QR codes, no more “assist terminals” flipping votes, no more “coincidental” shutdowns.
Minnesota’s Election Crisis: Leiendecker’s Fix Exposes Our Failures
This national wake-up call couldn’t come at a worse time for Minnesota—or a better one for reform.
Just three weeks ago, on October 10, 2025, Secretary of State Steve Simon held a virtual “hearing” on proposed election rules (Revisor’s ID R-4824) that was sabotaged from the start. As I exposed in “Minnesota’s Election Hearing Sabotage: Demand In-Person Access Now”:
• Over 100 Minnesotans, including me, demanded the hearing by September 26.
• Most got no confirmation.
• The WebEx link was broken—returning “Page Cannot Be Found” errors (tracking ID: 2CA9A7D8120C4B7B945FB0653F0985CC_1759581327214).
• Rural voters, seniors, and the disabled were silenced.
This wasn’t incompetence. It was suppression—timed just after the DOJ sued Simon on September 25, 2025, for blocking voter roll access under NVRA and HAVA.
And the rules themselves? As I detailed in “Minnesota’s Election Rules: A Recipe for Fraud”, they’re a fraudster’s playbook:
• 3.6 million registered vs. 4.2 million voting-age—300,000+ ghost voters.
• 1,130+ post-election “additions” in 2024.
• 100.88% turnout in some precincts.
• No monthly SSA death checks.
• No citizenship verification—despite HAVA and the SAVE Act.
• No ban on foreign software like Konnech (CCP-linked).
• Unlimited vouching in care facilities.
• “Privacy” blocks DOJ access—violating NVRA § 8(c)(2).
This isn’t just sloppy. It’s systemic. And it’s tied to billions in padded federal funding—from Medicaid to welfare—siphoned through inflated rolls. Remember Feeding Our Future? That was $250 million. This is $1 billion+.
Leiendecker’s paper ballot revolution is the cure:
• Verifiable chain of custody.
• No reliance on hackable scanners (remember St. Paul’s July 25, 2025 ransomware attack by Interlock—43 GB leaked, National Guard activated?).
• Real-time audits with USCIS, Census, and SSA.
• 30-day post-election freezes.
• Public logs—NVRA and HAVA compliant.
As the Supreme Court warned in Crawford v. Marion County (2008): Lax systems breed chaos. Leiendecker’s analog fix aligns perfectly with my 2026 platform.
Why This Matters: 2026 Is On the Line
Leiendecker didn’t just buy a company—he bought a movement. His GOP roots bridge the divide:
• Conservatives who cried “stolen” now have a champion retiring the machines.
• Transparency advocates like me see a blueprint for trust.
In Minnesota, where 2020 margins were razor-thin and 2024 anomalies screamed foul, paper ballots are non-negotiable. They protect against:
• Cyber sabotage (like the hearing shutdown).
• Non-citizen voting (20% foreign-born and rising).
• Elite grift mocking Article IV’s republican guarantee.
I will:
1. Demand paper primaries in 2026.
2. Promote legislation tying funding to <1% roll inflation.
3. Partner with DOJ and CISA to purge ghosts.
4. Ban foreign software under § 206.82.
5. Mandate fraud training with whistleblower protections.
But we start today. The October 10 hearing may be over—but the fight isn’t.
• Email Simon (steve.simon@state.mn.us), Walz (gov.walz@state.mn.us), and OAH (william.t.moore@state.mn.us).
• Tag @MNSteveSimon, @GovTimWalz, @TheJusticeDept on X with #MNVoterFraud #PaperBallotsNow.
• Read my full exposés here and here.
• Volunteer, donate, testify at parrish4mn.com.
Liberty Vote bought Dominion to break it. Let’s buy back Minnesota’s elections to rebuild them.
Paper or bust—our kids’ future demands it.
For a secure, fraud-free North Star,
Phillip C. Parrish
Candidate for Governor of Minnesota, 2026
parrish4mn.com | @phillipcparrish
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Philip C. Parrish is a Republican candidate for Governor of Minnesota, retired Navy intelligence officer, father, farmer, teacher, administrator, and lifelong Minnesotan running to restore integrity and prosperity.