For over a decade election commissions in five continents have relied on our electoral solutions to run their elections. Our 3,500+ successful and transparent electoral processes have been validated by the most prestigious observation missions in the world. Yet, in spite of our excellent track record, we receive negative press.
Because trust in elections is key to any democracy and our reputation is at stake, we feel obliged to make an extra effort and help the truth surface.
We invite you to scroll down and get the facts about Smartmatic.
1) Those rigging elections
They don’t want to lose power -they want us to fail, so they can keep rigging. Usually they are powerful politicians with close links to the local media. Often, they even own the media and will fight with all they have.
If they lose a newly automated, clean election, they'll try to discredit the election and the system. How? Mostly by publishing slanderous articles and introducing non-sensical lawsuits that are always dismissed, and endlessly citing misleading or outdated information.
Often times, they get talking heads (NGOs created for this purpose) to support their campaigns.
1) It’s a conspiracy – we’re connected to a government or political party.
Although Smartmatic is a private and independent technology firm, and no ruler or state owns shares in the company, we have been wrongly associated with many of the governments for which we’ve provide technology and services.
But the truth is: The owners of Smartmatic, since its foundation in 2000, have been the Mugica, Piñate, Anzola and Massa families, holding the 88%+ of Smartmatic’s stock; 10% of the remaining stock correspond to the Stock Incentive Program for employees who have become shareholders; and 2%+ of the stock is held by angel investors.
2) The system doesn’t work.
Often times, losing candidates use fly-by-night NGOs and Astroturf organizations to discredit our work and defend their interests.
Hiding behind their alleged impartiality, they often exaggerate the negative impact of any minor incident to generate mistrust.
But the truth is: For over a decade election commissions have relied on our class-leading voting technology to run fraud-free elections.
International missions who have formally participated in the elections where our technology has been implemented, are first-row witnesses to our success.
“After having monitored 92 elections, I can say that Venezuela has the best voting system in the world, since it makes verifying the electoral results easier. It allows electronic voting and offers a physical, printed backup of the vote.” | Jimmy Carter, former President of the United States, leader and founder of the Carter Center, 2012
3) Smartmatic is ‘sued’ or ‘investigated’
Between 2004 and 2006, some blogs published rumors that Smartmatic had links to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and assured the US government was investigating the company to verify if there was any truth on this.
In 2010, a similar rumor was spread, but this time linking the ownership of our company with former Philippine president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. These false claims have been lingering in social media ever since.
But the truth is: No lawsuit has ever been accepted against Smartmatic. All of our customers are satisfied and we have collected 99.9% of the revenue we have invoiced.
All surveys show high satisfaction of the population with their voting system, in spite of the aggressive media campaigns against it.
(In the Philippines, according to pollster Social Weather Stations, 75% of voters were “very satisfied” with the conduct, speed and credibility of the election | 2010)
1) International missions observing elections – the people who have formally participated in the elections where our technology has been implemented and have taken part in the audit processes
“The (Smartmatic) automated voting system in place in Venezuela is the most advanced in the world.” | Report of the European Union Mission, 2005
“This voting system [from Smartmatic] is designed in such a way that it is not possible to manipulate final results.” | Cesar Gaviria, OAS Secretary General, 2004
“What we’ve verified is that Venezuela has one of the strongest, most advanced, most reliable and credible voting systems in Latin America, technologically speaking. The electronic voting system, I believe, is easier much more reliable, quicker, friendlier, safer and more auditable than manual voting.” | Carlos Álvarez, Chief of the Electoral Accompaniment Mission of UNASUR and former Vice President of Argentina, 2012
“... This is the beauty of automation. There’s no room for fraud.” | Tita de Villa, Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), 2010
2) Embassies
“Our observations suggested that this process was carried out smoothly, and the results transmitted rapidly, in the great majority of cases.” | Alistair MacDonald, EU Ambassador to the Philippines, 2010
“The Embassy of the United States of America sends cordial congratulations to the people of the Philippines for having reached another milestone in the democratic history of their country with the May 10 elections.” | Embassy of the United States in the Philippines, 2010
3) Customers: Governments and Electoral Commissions improving the efficiency and transparency of their processes
“In fact for most voters Election Day was a fairly simple and trouble-free experience… The feedback from the polling places was that voters liked the new system [from Smartmatic through its former subsidiary Sequoia Voting Systems]. Unlike punch-card voting of the past few decades, there was no confusion over which numbers to punch, nor were there any infamous hanging chads.” | Langdon D. Neal, Chairman Chicago Board of Election Commissioners and David Orr, Cook County Clerk from Chicago, 2006
“I’m certain of two things: fraud of any kind is impossible in Venezuela, and second, no one will repudiate the results of the election. Whoever has the votes wins; this is known by everybody.” | Vicente Díaz, rector of the National Electoral Council, 2012
3) Conspiracy theorists