The board of elections in an Ohio county revolted against commissioners who rejected a plan to buy 1,450 new machines from Dominion Voting Systems, a company that has been the target of dubious claims of election fraud over the past several months.
The four-member Stark County board of elections voted 4-0 on Friday to approve the purchase, demanding commissioners approve the funds by a meeting set for Wednesday takes place “due to the time-sensitive nature of needing the equipment in time for 2021 general election” on Nov. 2, according to the Repository.
The board also voted 3-0, with one abstention, to authorize a lawsuit if the county commissioners decline the 10-year, multimillion-dollar contract, which would be partially covered by the state and trade-in value in the first year.
“I think that it’s pretty clear at this point, this is our selection, and we need to move forward,” Samuel Ferruccio, the Democratic chairman of the elections board, told ideastream. “We want to be in a position to have our new equipment for the general election at this point, so time is of the essence.”
The three-member Board of Stark County Commissioners, all Republicans, voted earlier this month to reject a recommendation by the board of elections to purchase the Dominion machines, citing opposition from local residents.
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“The Board of Commissioners will always act within the law and for the best interests of Stark County residents,” Mark Weaver, an attorney representing the county commissioners, said in response to the election board vote. “That’s true in every area of county government, including the Board of Elections. The commissioners are elected by the voters to make the final decisions about county policy and they take that responsibility seriously.”
Stark County, located in northeast Ohio, has roughly 370,000 residents.
Following the 2020 general election, former President Donald Trump and his allies claimed Dominion machines altered votes despite audits and recounts in several states and counties that used the technology, allegations that have been denied by the company. These election fraud cases have been roundly rejected by the courts, and audits in Ohio, where Dominion machines were used in 11 counties, found few errors not attributed to the machines.
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Still, officials in at least two other states have turned against Dominion equipment since the 2020 election. Louisiana abandoned what was shaping up to be a $100 million contract. And Antrim County in Michigan voted to conduct a hand count for its primary election instead of using its Dominion machines.
Dominion has filed multiple defamation lawsuits since the November election, citing claims about its technology that caused “irreparable damage” to the company’s name and reputation, including a $1.3 billion suit against former Trump personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, a similar suit against lawyer Sidney Powell, and a $1 billion suit against MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.
Dominion announced a $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News on Friday, which cited the loss of the $10 million contract in Stark County where the board moved to award the contract to Dominion’s competitor, ES&S, in arguing how the company has suffered “enormous harm.” A network spokesperson said Fox News “will vigorously defend against this baseless lawsuit in court.”
