Dominion Voting Systems & Its Reputation
I have been wondering lately about how Dominion Voting Systems has been managing its reputational assault. Dominion was one of the polling systems used in the 2020 Presidential election and has been accused by pro-Trump media, legal counsel and supporters as having been rigged against the President. President Trump has also chimed in on Twitter with misinformation about Dominion’s role in the election.
You’ve probably also heard Dominion CEO John PoulosI say that the company was looking into legal remedies against these individuals who he says have defamed and harmed his company’s reputation. On November 30, Poulosi wrote a convincing oped in the Wall Street Journal about the fake claims: “Our machines have no secret ‘vote flipping’ algorithm. We have no ties to dictator Hugo Chávez.” He is upfront — he is often quoted — and he’s all in when it comes to defending the company’s reputation and work. The electronic voting software and hardware company has also received assurances from local and federal election officials claiming no evidence that any voting system was compromised during the election. “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised,” reads a statement from a coalition of federal cybersecurity officials, local election administrators and voting technology companies.
The BIG question is whether anyone accusing Dominion of tampering with the election outcome is listening and hearing their arguments. Yet they have no choice but to defend themselves and we will see where 2021 sorts out in terms of their reputational favorability. They cannot be bystanders when it comes to arguing their case and dashing this tidal wave of disinformation. So far I have not seen any polls on how this crisis might be impacting their reputation. Unfortunately it takes time and many incremental steps are ahead to rebuild reputation.
In addition to the CEO, the director of product strategy and security at Dominion, Eric Coomer, has begun legal action for the "untold damage to his reputation as a national expert on voting systems,” according to Colorado Public Radio (CPR). Coomer went into hiding due to death threats and harassment since the election. He even wrote an oped “Guest Commentary: I work for Dominion Voting Systems. I did not commit voter fraud. The attacks against me need to stop,” explaining what he does and why this attack on him and the work of Dominion must stop.
Naturally I went to their website to see how they were defending themselves. They are proactively managing their reputation and you can tell by looking at their home page (below). They are making the case that this disinformation campaign is a threat to democracy and citizens need to get their facts straight. When you click on the red box, “Get the Facts,” you go to the Setting the Record Straight page (see below). It was last updated on Christmas day, December 25, when I visited.
The company has also wiped off all the names of leadership or contacts, as they had to if they did not want their employees further harassed and people showing up at their homes. A sad state of affairs when employees and their families are worried about safeguarding their lives in addition to protecting their company reputation and doing essential work.
I did some googling on whether they hired a public relations firm and learned that they had hired Hamilton Place Strategies. The partners such as Michael Steel have also been out there speaking up on Dominion’s behalf either as spokespeople or on social media.
Seems like they have it covered for now. Dominion will continue to be in the news as law suits are filed against the President and others and they are asked to retract their statements. Too bad there is no vaccine for fake news…….