Election Systems Software (ES&S) is owned by The McCarthy Group.
OpenSecrets.org reveals Michael R. McCarthy, owner of The McCarthy Group, donated $2700 to Hillary Clinton in December 2015.
Salon created a Clinton Foundation donor list in 2007 and found The McCarthy Group listed as donating 200,000 dollars in 2007 when it was the largest voting machine company in the United States, and shortly before Clinton made her first run for the presidency.
In December 2019, Democratic Senators Warren, Klobuchar, Wyden, and Pocan sent letters to the McCarthy Group, majority owner of Election Systems Software (ES&S); Staple Street Capital Group, majority owner of Dominion Voting Systems and H.I.G. Capital with majority ownership of HartInterCivic. The Senators describe these companies as:
“private equity-owned election technology vendors serving 90% of eligible voters but fail to sufficiently innovate, improve, and protect deteriorating voting systems; Election security experts have noted for years that our nation’s voting systems and election infrastructure are under serious threat.”
Dominion Voting Systems and The Clinton Foundation also agreed to a 2.25 million dollar charity initiative in developing nations called the DELIAN Project.
According to the Clinton Foundation’s own project website:
In 2014, Dominion Voting committed to providing emerging and post-conflict democracies with access to voting technology through its philanthropic support to the DELIAN Project, as many emerging democracies suffer from post-electoral violence due to the delay in the publishing of election results. Over the next three years, Dominion Voting will support election technology pilots with donated Automated Voting Machines (AVM), providing an improved electoral process, and therefore safer elections. As a large number of election staff are women, there will be an emphasis on training women, who will be the first to benefit from the skills transfer training and use of AVMs. It is estimated that 100 women will directly benefit from election technology skills training per pilot election.
Canadian John A. Poulos, co-founder of Dominion Voting Systems, is also a Clinton Foundation donor.
Software used by the voting system Dominion reportedly “glitched” in favor of Joe Biden in key parts of Michigan. As it turns out, key members of Dominion have ties that go back to Hillary Clinton.
One America’s Chief White House Correspondent Chanel Rion has more:
On November 3, 2018, Fortune (Bloomberg) publishes an article titled, “Private Equity Controls the Gatekeepers of American Democracy” and writes:
Millions of Americans will cast votes in Tuesday’s midterm elections, some on machines that experts say use outdated software or are vulnerable to hacking. If there are glitches or some races are too close to call — or evidence emerges of more meddling attempts by Russia — voters may wake up on Wednesday and wonder: Can we trust the outcome?
Meet, then, the gatekeepers of American democracy: Three obscure, private equity-backed companies control an estimated $300 million U.S. voting-machine industry. Though most of their revenue comes from taxpayers, and they play an indispensable role in determining the balance of power in America, the companies largely function in secret.
Devices made by Election Systems & Software LLC, Dominion Voting Systems and Hart InterCivic Inc. will process about nine of every ten ballots next week. Each of the companies is privately held and at least partially controlled by private equity firms.
Beyond that, little is known about how they operate or to whom they answer. They don’t disclose financial results and aren’t subject to federal regulation. While the companies say their technology is secure and up-to-date, security experts for years have raised concerns that older, sometimes poorly engineered, equipment can jeopardize the integrity of elections and, more importantly, erode public trust.
“We have more federal regulation of ballpoint pens and Magic Markers than our voting infrastructure,” said Lawrence Norden, deputy director of the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program at New York University School of Law. “There’s no national system, and the result is that states are largely forced to buy from these companies.”