Three companies have submitted formal proposals to the Puerto Rico State Elections Commission (SEC) in a closely watched procurement process to acquire a new electronic vote-counting system for the island. The bidders are Election Systems & Software LLC (ES&S), Liberty Vote USA Inc. and Truenorth Corporation, the agency confirmed Wednesday. SEC President Jorge R. Rivera […]
Three companies have submitted formal proposals to the Puerto Rico State Elections Commission (SEC) in a closely watched procurement process to acquire a new electronic vote-counting system for the island.
The bidders are Election Systems & Software LLC (ES&S), Liberty Vote USA Inc. and Truenorth Corporation, the agency confirmed Wednesday.
SEC President Jorge R. Rivera Rueda said the proposals were received during a public bid-opening event held earlier in the day, closing the submission period for RFP CEE-2026-07, which was issued in April. The solicitation seeks an electronic system to scan and tabulate ballots as Puerto Rico prepares to replace or modernize the technology used in recent election cycles.
Rivera Rueda said the Commission’s goal is to strengthen public confidence by selecting a secure, reliable system capable of producing rapid and accurate results. He said the agency is seeking technology that meets high standards for security and performance while supporting a smoother voting and tabulation process during election events.
The procurement now moves into its technical evaluation phase. Under the terms of the RFP, which was unanimously approved by the Electoral Commissioners in March, each proposal will be reviewed to determine whether it meets the SEC’s specifications and requirements. The review will be conducted by the agency’s Technical Advisory Committee, made up of one representative appointed by each Electoral Commissioner.
The companies behind the bids
The three bidders bring different corporate histories, public records and areas of scrutiny to a procurement expected to attract attention from election officials, political parties and voters.
Liberty Vote USA Inc. is the new corporate identity of Dominion Voting Systems, one of the most prominent voting technology companies in the United States. Dominion was acquired in October 2025 by Liberty Vote, a company founded by Scott Leiendecker, a former Republican elections official in St. Louis and election technology entrepreneur.
The SEC previously purchased ballot-counting technology from Dominion in 2015. The new procurement comes after widespread transmission and data problems affected Puerto Rico’s 2020 and 2024 elections, prompting calls to replace the existing machines, according to published reports.
Dominion also became a central target of widely circulated election-rigging claims after the 2020 U.S. presidential election—claims that were later debunked. The company spent years pursuing defamation lawsuits over those allegations, including a $787.5 million settlement with Fox News and a $67 million settlement with Newsmax. A separate $1.3 billion lawsuit against MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell was dropped in June 2026, according to published reports.
Truenorth Corporation is a Puerto Rico-based information technology and systems company that manages critical software networks for government agencies, including data infrastructure connected to the SEC. In late November 2025, Truenorth was the target of a cyberattack that affected systems at three Puerto Rican government agencies, though officials said the SEC was not affected and that citizen data was not compromised, according to published reports.
The company has also drawn scrutiny over campaign financing. A July 2024 investigation by the Center for Investigative Journalism (CPI) reported that Truenorth executives, while the company held $1.4 million in technology contracts with the SEC, contributed nearly $40,000 to political campaigns during the primary cycle, raising questions about transparency and the relationship between private technology contractors and public election administration.
Omaha-based ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the United States and a major supplier of election technology nationwide. Its scale has made the company a recurring focus of scrutiny from lawmakers, cybersecurity experts and election watchdogs.
Security experts and U.S. lawmakers have questioned ES&S over supply-chain risks, including the use of some components manufactured overseas. The company has said its tabulation software is developed and compiled in the United States and that all voting machine components undergo testing and verification before certification.
ES&S has also faced criticism over transparency because of its private ownership structure and limited public disclosure of internal financial and technical information. Watchdogs and members of Congress have argued that greater transparency is essential for public trust in election systems.
The SEC’s technical review will determine which, if any, of the proposed systems best meets Puerto Rico’s requirements for security, reliability, transparency and election-night performance. The outcome will shape the island’s vote-counting infrastructure for future electoral cycles.
