Smartmatic

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Smartmatic was officially incorporated on April 11. 2000 in Delaware.[1][2][3] After receiving funds from private investors, the company then began to expand. Smartmatic was the main technology supplier for fourteen Venezuelan national elections. Smartmatic’s incorporators and inventors have backgrounds evidencing their foreign connections, including Venezuela and Serbia.[4] In March 2018, Smartmatic ceased operations in Venezuela.[5]

Dominion Voting Systems acquired the vote-rigging software when it purchased Sequoia Voting Systems from Smartmatic,[6] which originally developed the software, and signed a non-competition agreement.[7] Smartmatic CEO Mark Malloch-Brown has acknowledged a software licensing agreement between Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems.[8][9] After the 2020 presidential election, George Soros appointed Malloch-Brown as president of OSF.[10] Retired Admiral Peter Neffenger, who is on the Biden junta's transition team, is on the board of directors of SmartMatic.[11]

Background

Rep. Carolyn Maloney

Smartmatic acquired Sequoia Voting Systems in 2005.[12][13][14] Following this acquisition, Rep. Carolyn Maloney requested an investigation to determine whether the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) had followed correct processes to green-light sale of Sequoia to Smartmatic, which was described as having "possible ties to the Venezuelan government".[15] The request was made after a March 2006 following issues in Chicago and Cook County, where a percentage of the machines involved were manufactured by Sequoia, and Sequoia provided technical assistance, some by a number of Venezuelan nationals flown in for the event.[16] A WikiLeaks cable from July 10, 2006 discussed ownership:

“The Venezuelan-owned Smartmatic Corporation is a riddle both in ownership and operation, complicated by the fact that its machines have overseen several landslide (and contested) victories by President Hugo Chavez and his supporters. The electronic voting company went from a small technology startup to a market player in just a few years, catapulted by its participation in the August 2004 recall referendum. Smartmatic has claimed to be of U.S. origin, but its true owners — probably elite Venezuelans of several political strains — remain hidden behind a web of holding companies in the Netherlands and Barbados. The Smartmatic machines used in Venezuela are widely suspected of, though never proven conclusively to be, susceptible to fraud. The company is thought to be backing out of Venezuelan electoral events, focusing now on other parts of world, including the United States via its subsidiary, Sequoia.”[17]
Anthony Mugica and Bill Gates in June 2015.[18]

Following the request, Smartmatic and Sequoia submitted a request to be reviewed by the CFIUS while also denying links to the Venezuelan government.[19] The company disclosed that it was owned by Antonio Mugica (78.8%),[20] Alfredo Anzola (3.87%), Roger Pinate (8.47%), Jorge Massa Dustou (5.97%) and employees (2.89%).[21] Smartmatic subsequently sold Sequoia and later withdrew from Cook County in December 2006.[22]

The Wall Street Journal wrote that "Smartmatic scrapped a simple corporate structure" of being based in Boca Raton "for a far more complex arrangement" of being located in multiple locations following the Sequoia incident. Though Smartmatic has made differing statements saying that they were either American or Dutch based, the United States Department of State stated that its Venezuelan owners "remain hidden behind a web of holding companies in the Netherlands and Barbados". The New York Times states that "the role of the young Venezuelan engineers who founded Smartmatic has become less visible" and that its organization is "an elaborate web of offshore companies and foreign trusts", while BBC News states that though Smartmatic says the company was founded in the United States, "its roots are firmly anchored in (Venezuela)". Multiple sources simply state that Smartmatic is a Venezuelan company.[23] Smartmatic maintains that the holding companies in multiple countries are used for "tax efficiency".[24]

Election rigging

An eyewitness testified in a sworn affidavit,

"the software and fundamental design of the electronic electoral system and software of Dominion and other election tabulating companies relies upon software that is a descendant of the Smartmatic Electoral Management System. In short, the Smartmatic software is in the DNA of every vote tabulating company’s software and system.

22. Dominion is one of three major companies that tabulates votes in the United States. Dominion uses the same methods and fundamentally same software design for the storage, transfer and computation of voter identification data and voting data. Dominion and Smartmatic did business together. The software, hardware and system have the same fundamental flaws which allow multiple opportunities to corrupt the data and mask the process in a way that the average person cannot detect any fraud or manipulation. The fact that the voting machine displays a voting result that the voter intends and then prints out a paper ballot which reflects that change does not matter. It is the software that counts the digitized vote and reports the results. The software itself is the one that changes the information electronically to the result that the operator of the software and vote counting system intends to produce that counts. That’s how it is done. So the software, the software itself configures the vote and voting result -- changing the selection made by the voter. The software decides the result regardless of what the voter votes."[25]

2016 Utah Republican caucus

In the 2016 Utah Republican caucus, where Utah Republicans voted to choose the party’s nominee for president in the 2016 Presidential election, the voters had the opportunity to vote using traditional methods or to vote online. For online voting, the Utah Republican Party used an internet voting system developed by the Smartmatic-Cybernetica Internet Voting Centre of Excellence, based in Estonia.[26][27]

Despite warnings from security experts,[28] Utah Republican Party officials billed the online voting system, for which the state paid $150,000. Multiple issues occurred with the system, with voters receiving error messages and even being blocked from voting. Smartmatic received thousands of calls from Utah voters surrounding issues with the process. The Washington Post states that "the concern seems to be less with the technology and more with the security of the devices people use to vote".[29] According to Joe Kiniry, the lead researcher of Galois, a technology research firm:

Several of us did a lightweight analysis of it remotely, to see how it was built and deployed and this sort of thing ... we found that they were using technologies that even modern Web programmers stay away from. ... It’s like the dumbest possible choices are being made by some of these companies with respect to deployed technology that should be mission-critical!

Venezuela

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez with Fidel Castro.

Smartmatic affiliations with government politicians raised suspicions, with instances of an interior vice minister, Morris Loyo Arnáez, being hired to lobby for Smartmatic contracts and with the company paying for the National Electoral Council (CNE) president Jorge Rodríguez Jorge Rodríguez and his sister Delcy Rodríguez to stay at the Boca Raton Resort & Club in Boca Raton, Florida.[30] Vice Minister Loyo was paid $1.5 million by Smartmatic as a "sales commission" and his continual payments with the company eventually doubled.

A lawyer who had worked with Rodríguez, Moisés Maiónica, was allegedly employed by Smartmatic in order to provide legal and financial assistance to help with its selection for its 2004 elections.[31][32] Years after the election in December 2008, Maiónica pled guilty in the United States District Court for attempting to cover up the Suitcase scandal (Maletinazo scandal), an incident where Hugo Chávez attempted to finance Cristina Kirchner's 2007 Argentine Presidential Election campaign to influence Argentina's presidential election, with Maiónica stating that he was working for Venezuela's spy agency, the National Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services.[33]

2004 elections

After the presidential recall referendum of 2004 in Venezuela, a controversy was raised about the use of electronic voting (SAES voting machines). Studies following the 2004 Venezuela recall elections found that Smartmatic's network was "bi-directional" with data being able to be transferred both ways between Smartmatic devices and the telecommunications company CANTV, with alleged irregularities found between the Smartmatic and Venezuela's National Electoral Council election results.[34] Other independent election monitors claimed electoral fraud and submitted appeals, and statistical evaluations including a peer-reviewed article in 2006[35] and a special section of 6-peer-reviewed article in 2011[36] concluded that it was likely that electronic election fraud had been committed.

After 4 years of research and 3 years of undergoing intensive peer review, mathematics Professor Gustavo Delfino’s published a paper in the highly respected Statistical Science journal, November 2011 issue (Volume 26, Number 4) with the title Analysis of the 2004 Venezuela Referendum: The Official Results Versus the Petition Signatures. The intensive study used multiple mathematical approaches to ascertain the voting results found in the 2004 Venezuelan referendum. Delfino and his research partners discovered not only the algorithm used to manipulate the results, but also the precise location in the election processing sequence where vulnerability in machine processing would provide such an opportunity. According to Prof Delfino, the magnitude of the difference between the official and the true result in Venezuela estimated at 1,370,000 votes.

2005 elections

Prior to the 2005 Venezuela parliamentary election, one technician could work around "the machine's allegedly random storage protocols" and remove voting secrecy. Since the voting systems were Windows based and only randomized data, the technician was able to download a simple software that could place Windows files in order. Following this revelation, voter turnout dropped substantially with only 25% of registered Venezuelans voting and opposition parties withdrawing from the election. This resulted in Hugo Chávez's party, as well as his allied parties, to control 100% of Venezuela's National Assembly.

Philippines

Smartmatic has been criticized by various entities for its motives and handling of elections in the Philippines.[37] In opinion polls, voters have approved of Smartmatic's automated system used by Comelec, with 84% of respondents stating that they had "big trust" in the automated process according to a June 2019 Pulse Asia Research poll.[38]

The Manila Times has stated that Smartmatic's system was unreliable, glitchy and vulnerable to tampering. After the newspaper reported that Smartmatic had been funneling voter information through "unofficial servers",[39] The Manila Times ultimately called on officials from the country's electoral body, Comelec, to resign.[40] William Yu of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, an election NGO, stated that such servers perform "many other activities before the elections" and that it "does not necessarily, automatically mean that data has been transmitted", though he requested that Comelec and Smartmatic provide an explanation.[41]

In early 2017, The Manila Times reported that Smartmatic machines were equipped with SD cards where voter entries are recorded, citing Glenn Chong, a former congressman of the NGO Tanggulang Demokrasya (TANDEM) stating that "at least one SD card was tampered with", allegedly showing that Smartmatic's system was "very much open to hijacking or sabotage".[42] A reviewer of the Philippine Linux Users’ Group stated that hacking into Smartmatic's system is "very difficult for outsiders" and that "it’s not as difficult to hack into the system if you’re a Comelec or a group of Comelec or Smartmatic personnel", expressing the importance of monitoring by Comelec and asking the public to have good faith in the electoral body.[43]

The IBON Foundation, a non-profit research organization based in the Philippines also criticized Smartmatic's system, stating in 2016 that "Why Smartmatic keeps on winning Comelec contracts boggles the mind especially considering the numerous and major malfunctions by the machines and services that Smartmatic provided in the past two elections" and that there were "allegations of rigged bidding to favor Smartmatic such as designing contracts where only Smartmatic can qualify or omitting requirements that will otherwise disqualify Smartmatic".[37]

2010 elections
Barack Obama was asked to investigate the dubious ownership of SmartMatic prior to the 2010 Philippino elections.

Prior to the elections, Filipino-Americans called on President Barack Obama to investigate the background of Smartmatic prior to the elections due to its links to the Venezuelan government. Smartmatic described these actions as "trying to rehash a story based on market share".[44] Following allegations of fraud, some employees of Smartmatic had their passports temporarily held.[45] At a fraud inquiry on May 20, 2010, Heider Garcia of Smartmatic was questioned on the transparency and what he called "unforeseen" occurrences during the election process, with Philippine official Teodoro Locsin Jr. – an automated poll advocate – sharply rebuking Garcia. On June 29, 2010, the Philippine Computer Society (PCS) filed a complaint with the country's Ombudsman against 17 officials of the Commission on Elections and the Smartmatic-TIM Corp. for alleged “incompetence,” graft and unethical conduct.[46]

2016 elections

Days after the May 2016 elections, Bongbong Marcos alleged that Smartmatic had tampered with the votes which cost him being elected Vice President of the Philippines and criminal proceedings were filed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) against Comelec personnel as well as Smartmatic employees, with Election Commissioner Rowena Guanzon stating that Smartmatic had violated protocols.[47] After a Smartmatic employee fled the country, Bongbong Marcos accused the Comelec for his "escape", though two other Smartmatic personnel, one from Venezuela and the other from Israel, were present for criminal proceedings.[48] In July 2016, it was reported that Smartmatic funneled votes through "unofficial servers". In an October 2016 editorial, The Manila Times called on all members of Comelec to resign due to the "innumerable controversies since its adoption of the Smartmatic-based Automated Election System".

On June 7, 2017, the Philippine Department of Justice indicted "several Smartmatic and Comelec personnel for changing the script in the election transparency server on election night during the May 2016 national and local polls". Those charged with the tampering include Marlon Garcia, the head of the Smartmatic's Technical Support Team, as well as two other Smartmatic employees, Neil Baniqued and Mauricio Herrera, and Comelec IT employees Rouie Peñalba, Nelson Herrera, and Frances Mae Gonzales. The six were charged with "illegal access, data interference, and system interference" under the Cybercrime Prevention Act.[49]

Heider Garcia

In August 2017, it was revealed that Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista was allegedly paid commissions by Divina Law while serving as chairman "for assisting the law firm clients with the Comelec". Divina Law, a firm that provides legal advice to Smartmatic. Bautista admitted that he obtained "referral fees", but denied that it was due to his position in Comelec. According to House Deputy Minority Leader Harry Roque, the incident is "a very clear case of bribery" by Smartmatic.[50]

From the Philippines to Texas

Heider Garcia received his engineering degree in Venezuela in 2003. he worked for Smartmatic for 12 years. In 2010, Garcia testified during a fraud investigation into the Smartmatic software in the Philippines election. In a video released of a raucous hearing Garcia was questioned on what he called euphemistically called “unforeseen” occurrences during the election.[51]

After the Philippine rigged election scandal, Garcia fled the country and moved to the United States and became the Democrat Elections Administrator in 2018 for Tarrant County, Texas, which includes Fort Worth.[52] In 2019, Tarrant County purchased new election machines.[53] In October 2020, during early voting, Tarrant County had to rescan thousands of ballots due to a supposed barcode discrepancy. On November 3, 2020 Tarrant County for a Democrat presidential candidate for the first time since 1964.[54]

Fox News Lawsuit

Smartmatic is alleging Fox News made over 100 false, inaccurate, and disparaging attacks and believe their efforts cast doubt on the integrity of the U.S. election system. Named in the suit is Fox Corporation, Maria Bartiromo Lou Dobbs and Jeanine Pirro, Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell. Smartmatic is suing for $2.7 billion. [55] On March 8, 2022, A New York State Supreme Court judge ruled that the lawsuit can proceed, despite Fox’s motion to have the matter dismissed. The judge threw claims against against Pirro and Powell, as well as some claims against Giuliani. But the claims against Bartiromo and Dobbs were allowed to stand. [56]

On February 14, 2023, in a 5-0 decision, the Appellate Division in Manhattan said Smartmatic alleged in "detailed fashion" how Fox News and some anchors and guests "effectively endorsed and participated in (defamation) with reckless disregard for, or serious doubts about" whether the company engaged in election fraud. The court also reinstated some previously dismissed claims against Rudolph Giuliani, and the case against host Jeanine Pirro. [57]


See also

References

  1. Division of Corporations - Filing - SMARTMATIC CORPORATION. State of Delaware.
  2. Foreign Profit - SMARTMATIC CORPORATION. State of Delaware.
  3. "A Crucial Vote for Venezuela and a Company" New York Times. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  4. https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mied.350905/gov.uscourts.mied.350905.1.15.pdf
  5. "Smartmatic Announces Cease of Operations in Venezuela", Business Wire, 6 March 2018. (en) 
  6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtGEBRRAC50
  7. Dominion/Smartmatic ‘Noncompete’ Agreement Emerges Despite Claims Of Being ‘Fierce Competitors’, Natalie Winters, National Pulse, November 21, 2020.
  8. https://www.deepcapture.com/2020/11/election-2020-was-rigged-the-evidence/#_edn1
  9. https://youtu.be/e1tk252nFNQ
  10. https://noqreport.com/2020/12/05/george-soros-names-smartmatics-lord-mark-malloch-brown-as-president-of-open-society/
  11. http://dennismichaellynch.com/dml-morning-briefing-mon-nov-16-trump-lawyer-vows-to-overturn-results-of-election-in-several-states/
  12. "Voting Machine Firm Denies Chavez Ties", The Washington Post, 31 October 2006. “Bizta, a start-up technology company in Venezuela with some of the same owners as Smartmatic” 
  13. Business Wire, 9 March 2005, Sequoia Voting Systems and Smartmatic Combine to Form Global Leader in Electronic Voting Solutions
  14. "Smartmatic es una empresa de "comercio riesgoso" y... defraudadora", La Crónica de Hoy, 1 December 2009. (es-MX) 
  15. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. Retrieved on 2 January 2018.
  16. ABC Local, 7 April 2006, Alderman: Election Day troubles could be part of 'international conspiracy'
  17. https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/06CARACAS2063_a.html
  18. https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/11/blast-past-smartmatic-ceo-introduces-creepy-bill-gates-global-citizen-conference-june-2015/
  19. Voting-Machine Firm Denies Hugo Chavez Ties (2006-10-30).
  20. https://youtu.be/4103AcM6yoc
  21. Voting Machine Company Vows No Connection to Venezuelan President Chavez (en).
  22. "Politics & Economics: Smartmatic to Shed U.S. Unit, End Probe Into Venezuelan Links", The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 22 December 2006. 
  23. "US Caracas Embassy: 'Smartmatic is a riddle'", The Manila Times, 1 December 2015. 
    (7 February 2007) Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), One Year After Dubai Ports World: Congressional Hearing. Washington, D.C.: Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. ISBN 978-1422320471. 
    "Smartmatic faces probe", Philippine Daily Inquirer, 14 May 2016. 
    Belgian Region's Decision to Use New Voting Machines Reignites E-voting Debate|url=http://www.cio.com/article/2391971/e-voting/belgian-region-s-decision-to-use-new-voting-machines-reignites-e-voting-debate.html%7Cmagazine=CIO magazine|date=2012-09-24
  24. "Election officials OK with probe", The Chicago Tribune, 30 October 2006. (en) 
  25. https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.gand.283580/gov.uscourts.gand.283580.6.14.pdf
  26. "Estonian internet voting software used in Utah Republican caucus", 2016-04-14. (en-US) 
  27. Estonian E-solutions Everywhere - e-Estonia (2016-05-23).
  28. "Utah's Online Caucus Gives Security Experts Heart Attacks", WIRED, 21 March 2016. 
  29. "Utah Republicans are holding a first-ever online presidential primary. And it's not going so well.", The Washington Post, 22 March 2016. 
  30. "UNA EXTRAÑA MUERTE EN SMARTMATIC", ABC de la Semana, 20 September 2013. 
  31. (12 June 2008) SEQUOIA VOTING SYSTEMS, INC. USES VOTE-COUNTING SOFTWARE DEVELOPED, OWNED, AND LICENSED BY FOREIGN-OWNED SMARTMATIC, A COMPANY LINKED TO THE VENEZUELAN GOVERNMENT OF HUGO CHÁVEZ. National Institute of Standards and Technology, 1–13. 
  32. "El abogado chavista arrepentido", La Nación, 26 January 2008. 
  33. "Venezuelan Given 15 Months in Suitcase of Cash Scandal", The New York Times, 8 December 2008. 
  34. "Fraude y posibilidad de rectificación", El Universal (Caracas), 11 September 2004. 
  35. Cordero, Maria M. Febres; Márquez, Bernardo (2007). "A Statistical Approach to Assess Referendum Results: The Venezuelan Recall Referendum 2004". International Statistical Review 74 (3): 379–389. doi:10.1111/j.1751-5823.2006.tb00301.x. 
  36. Special Section: Revisiting the 2004 Venezuelan Referendum Template:Webarchive, Statistical Science, 26(4), November 2011
  37. 37.0 37.1 Automated Polls: Privatized elections, foreign-controlled democracy (Part 2).
  38. Tomacruz, Sofia. Most Filipinos express 'big trust' in results of 2019 elections – Pulse Asia (en).
  39. "Smartmatic admits using unofficial servers", The Manila Times, 22 July 2016. 
  40. "Defying the Supreme Court, the Comelec should resign en banc - The Manila Times Online", The Manila Times, 16 October 2016. 
  41. Bueza, Michael. 'Irregularities' in 2016 election server logs? Not necessarily, says I.T. expert (en).
  42. "Filipino people helpless against untrustworthiness of Comelec - The Manila Times Online", The Manila Times, 19 January 2017. 
  43. Information technology expert says AES difficult to hack (en-US).
  44. "Obama asked: Investigate Smartmatic", Philippine Daily Inquirer, 9 May 2010. “Smartmatic has disclosed, he said, that its owners are families in Venezuela” 
  45. "'Teddy Boy' blows top at Smartmatic official", ABS-CBN News, 20 May 2010. 
  46. Inquirer.Net: Graft raps filed vs Smartmatic, Comelec execs.
  47. "Smartmatic faces probe", Philippine Daily Inquirer, 14 May 2016. 
  48. "Comelec hit for escape of Smartmatic engineer - The Manila Times Online", The Manila Times, 19 June 2016. 
  49. "Smartmatic, Comelec personnel ordered indicted for Halalan 2016 script alteration", ABS-CBN Corporation, 7 June 2017. 
  50. "Solon: Bautista's 'receipt of fee for Smartmatic referral' casts doubt on 2016 polls", CNN, 9 August 2017. (en) 
  51. https://youtu.be/KEnV6TtM2sg
  52. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpNZattlJv4
  53. http://www.tarrantcounty.com/en/news/2019/new-voting-machines-arrive-in-tarrant-county-.html
  54. https://www.star-telegram.com/news/politics-government/article247074617.html
  55. https://www.smartmatic.com/us/media/article/faq-defamation-lawsuit-against-fox-corporation/
  56. https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/fox-news-smartmatic-lawsuit-1235199493/
  57. https://www.reuters.com/legal/fox-news-must-face-smartmatics-lawsuit-over-election-rigging-claims-2023-02-14/

External link