Voting Systems

Dominion Voting Systems takes out ad on conservative radio

The election technology supplier, targeted by Trump and his allies, is competing for a voting machines contract in Louisiana.

By QUINT FORGEY

Dominion Voting Systems, the election technology supplier that former President Donald Trump and his allies have falsely accused of facilitating mass voter fraud, has taken out an advertisement on a conservative Louisiana radio program as it competes for a state voting machines contract.

The ad on the “The Moon Griffon Show,” flagged online by The Advocate reporter Sam Karlin, features a twangy musical backing track and a deep-voiced, Southern-accented narrator defending Dominion’s services, which it states have “supported Louisiana elections honorably for more than 20 years.”

“Dominion provides machines that do one simple thing: accurately and honestly help local elected officials count your votes,” the ad states. “Every single statewide elected official in Louisiana, Republican and Democrat, was elected using Dominion machines. Using those same Dominion machines, President Trump won Louisiana with more votes in 2020 than he did in 2016.”

Dominion appears to have taken out similar ads touting itself as a “proud American company” on The Hayride, a right-wing Louisiana politics blog.

In a statement to POLITICO about the radio ad, a Dominion spokesperson said that “there is a lot of defamatory disinformation being spread about Dominion,“ and that “we want to make sure people hear the truth. Running ads enables us to share the facts about our company directly to the public.“

Dominion is one of the contractors seeking to fulfill Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin’s request to replace 10,000 decades-old voting machines, according to The Associated Press, and the state deal is estimated to be worth as much as $100 million. Dominion has furnished voting equipment for Louisiana since 2011.

But the former president and numerous prominent Republicans launched unsubstantiated attacks against the company in the run-up to last year’s White House race, alleging that it manipulated votes in favor of then-Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

Some high-ranking GOP officials sought to distance themselves from those conspiratorial claims ahead of last month’s Georgia Senate elections, worried that Trump’s rhetoric would dissuade Republican voters from casting their ballots. The pair of runoff races ultimately flipped control of the chamber to Democrats.

Meanwhile, Dominion is embarking on a string of litigation targeting Trump allies who promoted the baseless theories about rigged voting machines. The company has filed defamation lawsuits against Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell for $1.3 billion in damages each.