EXCLUSIVE — Devin Talbott, founder of the Maryland-based investment firm Enlightenment Capital and chairman of voting machine giant Hart InterCivic, is under scrutiny for his extensive political donations to Democratic candidates while leading a major U.S. election technology company, a combination raising questions about potential conflicts of interest in the U.S. voting system.
Talbott’s firm invests heavily in the aerospace, defense, government, and technology sectors. As chairman of Hart InterCivic, he also plays a central role in shaping the company’s operations and the voting systems it supplies to states nationwide.
At the same time, he has contributed more than $100,000 to Democratic candidates, committees, and PACs over the past decade while overseeing one of the country’s leading voting technology suppliers.
Federal Election Commission records show Talbott has given tens of thousands of dollars to campaigns for Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and Jon Tester, while also donating to the Democratic National Committee and the anti-Trump Lincoln Project. His only recorded contribution to a Republican was a $520 donation to Nikki Haley’s 2024 presidential campaign.
Talbott is the son of Strobe Talbott, who served as deputy secretary of state under President Bill Clinton after holding senior roles focused on the former Soviet republics. He went on to lead the Brookings Institution, one of Washington’s most influential think tanks, from 2002 to 2017. During his tenure, Brookings employed Igor Danchenko, who worked with former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele and was identified as a key source for the Steele dossier about alleged links between President Donald Trump and Russia. Those connections have led some critics to argue that Devin Talbott’s political and business roles fit within a broader Democratic establishment network.
Public records show Talbott registered as a Democrat in Maryland in 2006 and has voted in most general elections since, underscoring his long-standing political ties as his company plays a growing role in state election systems.
Talbott’s dual role as a political donor and chairman of a voting technology firm has drawn scrutiny from some election oversight advocates.
“When the person overseeing voting systems across the country is also a six-figure donor to one political party, it undermines public confidence in the neutrality of our elections,” said one advocate familiar with Hart InterCivic’s contracts, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the situation candidly.
Hart InterCivic, based in Austin, Texas, produces the Verity voting platform used in hundreds of jurisdictions across 20 states. The company is considered one of the “big three” election technology vendors in the United States, alongside Election Systems & Software and Dominion Voting Systems, which recently was purchased by a new firm called Liberty Vote.
Dominion became a flashpoint in the aftermath of the 2020 election, when false claims about its software and alleged ties to foreign actors fueled widespread conspiracy theories. After years of litigation, Dominion secured massive settlements, $787.5 million from Fox News and $67 million from Newsmax, tied to those baseless allegations. The company has maintained its systems are secure and reliable.
By comparison, Hart InterCivic has largely avoided the national spotlight, though it has faced its own share of technical controversies. In 2018, the Texas secretary of state issued a statewide advisory after reports that Hart’s eSlate voting machines were changing voters’ straight-ticket selections or omitting certain races altogether during early voting. State corporate filings in Texas list Talbott as Hart InterCivic’s chairman and director.
Hart’s ownership has faced similar scrutiny before. In 2011, Miami-based private equity firm H.I.G. Capital, founded by former Bain & Co. and Blackstone Group executives, made what it described as a “strategic investment” in Hart. The following year, several H.I.G. principals, including managing director and Hart board member Jeff Bohl, were revealed to be major donors to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. At the time, Hart denied “any suggestions that the company might try to influence the outcome of election results.”
In response to questions about the company’s ownership and independence, a spokesperson for Hart InterCivic said the firm “is an impartial and independent U.S. technology company with more than 100 years of experience providing election solutions.” The spokesperson added that Hart’s systems “are consistently certified at the federal and state levels as reliable, secure, and accurate,” and noted that the company is the only election-system provider in the nation certified to the latest federal standards, known as the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines 2.0.
Hart’s Verity Vanguard system became the first in the country to earn VVSG 2.0 certification from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission in July 2025, a milestone the company said marks “a significant advancement in secure, transparent, and accessible election technology.” The company also said its systems comply with directives outlined in Trump’s March 2025 executive order on preserving the integrity of American elections.
The company said Enlightenment Capital is one of several investors in Hart and that day-to-day operations and product development are handled by a professional management team. They also noted that Hart executives are prohibited from making political donations, adding that the company’s technology undergoes extensive testing by independent laboratories before being certified by the Election Assistance Commission and individual states. The commission, chaired by a Trump-nominated official who has served since 2019, oversees certification for voting systems nationwide. Hart officials emphasized that certification and oversight are conducted independently of any company ownership.
Before entering the election-technology industry, Talbott built his career investing in companies that serve the defense and government sectors. He launched Enlightenment Capital in 2012 and has backed firms involved in cybersecurity, intelligence, and aviation logistics. The firm’s advisory board has included retired military and national security officials, giving it deep reach into federal contracting circles. Enlightenment Capital’s 2020 acquisition of Hart InterCivic positioned Talbott at the intersection of political finance, government contracting, and election administration during a period of deep public skepticism about voting systems.
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Election policy analysts say Talbott’s case highlights a broader gap: private vendors that supply voting systems are not required to disclose the political activities or affiliations of their owners and executives.
“There’s nothing illegal about a partisan donor owning or having a stake in a voting-machine company,” one nonprofit policy adviser said, “but it’s a dangerous precedent in an era when trust in elections is already fragile.”