The Barry County Sheriff’s Office has maintained an open investigation into “election related crimes” and “election law violations” since at least December 2020. The scope of the inquiry extends beyond local jurisdiction, targeting national and international election vendors, their employees, subcontractors, and associated entities.
• Timeline: The investigation has been active since December 2020 and has generated correspondence to federal officials from April 2024 through December 2025.
• Primary Target: The investigation’s primary focus is Dominion Voting Systems, its employees, contractors, and its CEO, John Poulos. Other entities mentioned include Election Systems & Software (ES&S), Hart InterCivic, Smartmatic, and SolarWinds.
• Inter-Agency Collaboration: The Sheriff’s Office has made referrals to other law enforcement bodies. A press release dated October 28, 2024, states that a referral to the Texas Attorney General’s Office resulted in the opening of a civil investigation into Dominion, ES&S, Hart InterCivic, and SolarWinds.
A core theme across the communications is the alleged involvement of foreign nations and nationals in the U.S. election process, presenting what Sheriff Leaf describes as a critical national security matter.
Chinese Involvement
The documents allege multifaceted involvement by Chinese entities and individuals.
• Supply Chain: A letter dated June 18, 2025, states the Sheriff’s Office obtained Bills of Lading that provide “corroborative evidence of China’s involvement with Dominion Voting Systems Inc., and Dominion brand election equipment,” specifically identifying supply chain sources from China.
• Corporate Connections:
◦ Avante: Avante International Technology (Beijing), a vendor to Dominion, ES&S, and Hart InterCivic, is identified as having its primary business in China.
◦ State Street Capital: This firm, described as the 75% owner of Dominion, acquired Avante Health Solutions on October 8, 2021. The letter alleges Avante Health Solutions could be used as a “reconnaissance tool for the Chinese Military.”
• Hardware Components: An April 24, 2025, letter claims that U.S. election equipment utilizes 3G and 4G modems manufactured by Td-Tlt, a company whose board members are allegedly members of the Chinese Communist Party.
• Firmware and Certification: An August 20, 2025, letter alleges a conspiracy between “foreign Dominion employees” and “Chinese individuals working for Hewlett Packard” to intentionally mislabel product identification numbers to circumvent U.S. certification. The same letter claims these groups planned for Chinese individuals to “modify and make changes to firm ware” used in U.S. election equipment, with testing of these changes conducted outside the United States.
Serbian Involvement
• Personnel Access: An email dated November 2, 2020, cited in a letter to Congress, contains a request from Dominion employee Ivan Vukovic for Alex Cruz to grant access to “team members from Belgrade.”
• Leadership Connections: Dominion’s lead engineer is identified as Goren Obradovich from Serbia. The letter alleges he has worked as the President of CANSEE, an organization described as having a “close relationship with China” and being “intertwined with the Digital Silk Road and China’s Belt and Road Initiative.”
Venezuelan Involvement
• Personnel and System Access: A June 10, 2025, letter alleges that Ronald Morales, a Dominion employee from “communist Venezuela,” made changes to election systems that allowed “remote access and transmission of ballots to foreign actors before, during, and after the 2020 election.”
• Alleged Perjury: The same letter accuses Dominion CEO John Poulos of perjury for “falsely stating that Venezuela and China had nothing to do with Dominion or Smartmatic Voting Systems.”
• Financial Scheme: In a separate matter, a letter dated May 22, 2025, requests an investigation into “Venezuela’s intent to bribe and launder money through billions of dollars worth of oil to Qatar,” and how that money might be laundered into the U.S.
Sheriff Leaf Correspondence
Technical and Procedural Allegations
The Sheriff’s Office outlines specific technical vulnerabilities and procedural breaches, primarily concerning Dominion Voting Systems.
Source Code Modification
A May 10, 2024, letter to Congressman Jim Jordan asserts the Sheriff’s Office possesses Dominion documents that “demonstrate that Dominion changed and modified source code used in the November 3, 2020 election, and subsequent elections during the election process.”
• Method of Delivery: The letter claims Dominion provides these source code modifications to local clerks via SolarWinds’ Serv-U service.
• Supporting Evidence: A November 2, 2020, email from Dominion’s Andy Huang is cited, which states, “SolarWinds support restarted ServerU service, and after that things seem to be working.”
• Precedent: The Williamson, TN EAC Report is referenced as an instance where “an incorrect vote tally” was caused by “erroneous source code” that Dominion itself disclosed.
Foreign Employee Access and Influence
Specific Dominion employees are named in connection with alleged security risks.
• Lingming Cen: An April 11, 2024, letter notes this employee was “educated and trained at the Wuhan University of Science & Technology.” It cites a March 3, 2020, request to have Cen removed from the “Jira cloud login,” followed by a May 12, 2020, request from another employee for Cen to receive “elevated permissions” and “access to server resources.”
• Matt Horace: Formerly employed by Dominion (2018-2019), Horace allegedly predicted a “turbulent election cycle” and later, while a Mayo Clinic employee, used his official account to arrange meetings for a Dominion employee.
Allegations Against U.S. Officials
The investigation also implicates U.S. officials and agencies.
• Gabe Sterling (Georgia): A December 30, 2025, letter alleges that while Sterling publicly stated there was no fraud in the 2020 election, communications prove he “was aware that thousands of duplicate registrations were provided from Georgia Secretary of State, to Dominion, then Runbeck, resulting in thousands of voters receiving duplicate ballots.” The letter suggests investigating a potential link between his statements and an “$89 million Georgia/Dominion 2019 contract he signed.”
• Election Assistance Commission (EAC): The EAC is accused of delaying its response to inquiries about “globally sourced parts” and of “overstepping their bounds” when asked for malfunction reports.
The Barry County Sheriff’s Office has sent numerous letters to high-level officials requesting specific federal actions based on its findings.
Date | Recipient(s) | Key Request or Information Provided |
Apr 11, 2024 | Sen. Rand Paul, Rep. Jim Jordan | Request for Congress to investigate and obtain testimony regarding Dominion employee access and EAC delays. |
May 10, 2024 | Rep. Jim Jordan | Request for immediate investigation into Dominion modifying source code during elections and CEO John Poulos’s statements. |
Oct 28, 2024 | Press Release | Announces referral to Texas AG and subsequent civil investigation into Dominion, ES&S, Hart InterCivic, and SolarWinds. |
Jan 22, 2025 | President Donald Trump | Request for an Executive Order to prevent all foreign participation in the supply chain of U.S. election equipment. |
Apr 24, 2025 | President Donald Trump | Request for immediate investigation and measures to protect U.S. elections from alleged Chinese military involvement. |
May 22, 2025 | Rep. Elvira Salazar | Request for an immediate investigation into an alleged money laundering scheme involving Venezuela, Qatar, and Chevron. |
Jun 10, 2025 | Sec. Kristi Noem (DHS), Tom Homan (Border Czar) | Provision of information alleging a Dominion employee from Venezuela created system backdoors for foreign access. |
Jun 18, 2025 | Sen. Michael Lee, FBI Dir. Kash Patel, FBI Dep. Dir. Dan Bongino | Providing Bills of Lading as evidence of China’s supply chain involvement with Dominion; concerns over repeal of the Jones Act. |
Aug 20, 2025 | President Trump, AG Bondi, DNI Gabbard, Sec. Noem, et al. | Referral of a “critical national security matter” regarding alleged conspiracy between Dominion and HP employees in China. |
Dec 30, 2025 | Attorney General Pam Bondi | Provision of evidence related to Georgia official Gabe Sterling’s alleged knowledge of duplicate voter registrations. |
Dominion Internal Emails
Sheriff Leaf’s letters were based upon a significant body of internal emails from Dominion. Many of these emails, but not all, have been posted publicly at Sheriff Leaf’s X account.