Missouri Lawmaker Calls on AG to Prosecute Dominion Voting System Over Taxes

Missouri Lawmaker Calls on AG to Prosecute Dominion Voting System Over Taxes
A voting machine is cleaned during the Illinois Democratic primary in Chicago, Ill., on March 17, 2020. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)
Jack Phillips
12/3/2020
Updated:
12/3/2020

A Missouri state lawmaker called on Attorney General Eric Schmitt to prosecute Dominion Voting Systems for allegedly not paying state income taxes while operating election systems in the state, adding that under state guidelines, Missouri can obtain the company’s election systems’ source code.

“Further inspection into Dominion revealed disturbing evidence that Dominion, while certified and authorized by the State to operate voting systems in Missouri, failed on two occasions to pay state income taxes to the State of Missouri,” Rep. Justin Hill, a Republican, said in a letter to Schmitt, also a Republican. Citing Secretary of State records, Dominion “had their authority to transact business revoked ... due to failure to pay required taxes” in October 2019, he said.
Hill further argued that the company, which has offices in Denver and Toronto, “is in clear violation of state law under Chapter 147 as evidenced by the revocation of their certificate of authority for failure to pay income taxes.”

In a statement to The Epoch Times, a Dominion spokesperson said, “Dominion is resolving an administrative error in the record of its filed taxes in Missouri. Dominion has paid its taxes in full and expects the issue to be closed quickly.”

Missouri’s Secretary of State office needs to demand Dominion’s “source code” to be “held in escrow for inspection by state authorities,” according to the letter.

The reason why, Hill said, is because voting system vendors like Dominion—under Missouri state guidelines—have to “execute an escrow agreement with an escrow agent for the manufacturer’s source code for each system fully qualified by the Office of the Secretary of State.” The rule further stipulates that the state of Missouri can “receive full access to the source code” within seven days if there is reason to believe “that the vendor will fail to meet future obligations.”

Hill said he believes that based on the failure to pay taxes, there is reason to make such an ascertainment.

Such a rule was created to protect voters in Missouri against any fraud allegations “or from an event like this where a bad actor entrusted with the people’s vote fails to maintain their tax obligation.”

The Epoch Times also reached out to the Missouri Secretary of State’s office.

In recent weeks, Dominion has come under fire from conservatives over alleged irregularities and voter fraud.

The company has categorically denied that its machines can switch votes and also denied it has ties to foreign governments. The company’s CEO, in an editorial for the Wall Street Journal on Nov. 30, again dismissed the fraud claims as baseless.

“Despite the company’s limited role in elections, it has been the target of a stream of outrageous statements since Election Day—increasingly reckless and defamatory allegations that don’t stand up to scrutiny,” John Poulos wrote. “Dominion is never able to affect the outcome of an election. The entire certification process makes sure of that.”

Missouri voted in favor of President Donald Trump on Election Day.

Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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