Smartmatic, a voting technology company that Trump’s lawyers have called out from the Nov. 3 election, has been linked to allegedly fraudulent elections in the Philippines and socialist Venezuela, foreign outlets have previously reported.
Sidney Powell, President Donald Trump’s election lawyer, spoke to Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on Sunday on the many legal challenges that are active in several states and concerns about Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems, The Tennessee Star reported.
Smartmatic was the Philippines’ technology provider that was linked to alleged fraud in the 2016 presidential election, The Manila Times reported.
Then senator and vice presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. claimed he was cheated after a computer glitch in the middle of the count where he was leading abruptly put his rival, then Camarines Sur Rep. Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo ahead, which eventually resulted in her victory. A poll tribunal hearing Marcos’ protest has yet to rule on the case.
Then there is the socialist nation of Venezuela.
Smartmatic on March 16, 2018 announced it was ending operations in Venezuela after 15 years and 14 elections.
The reasons for the closure are widely known. In August of 2017, after the elections to the National Constituency Assembly, Smartmatic publicly stated that the National Elections Council had announced results that were different from those reflected by the voting system. This episode lead to an immediate rupture of the client-provider relationship.
Smartmatic did not participate in the last two elections (Regional Elections of October 15, 2017 and Municipal Elections of December 10, 2017), a fact that was timely informed. Since the company was not involved in these processes, and given the fact that the company’s products are not under warranty and were not certified for those elections, Smartmatic cannot guarantee the integrity of the system, nor can it attest to the accuracy of the results.
In an echo of one of Trump’s complaints, Smartmatic in 2017 said the Venezuelan government prohibited opposition election monitors from watching the auditing process, according to a story by The New York Times. The opposition boycotted the election. Smartmatic accused the government of altering at least 1 million votes in the election to give President Nicolás Maduro almost unlimited power.
The National Electoral Council said nearly 8.1 million people had voted, just over 40 percent of voters. Many rejected that number.
Antonio Mugica, CEO and co-founder of Smartmatic has an electronic engineering degree from the Simon Bolivar University in Caracas (Venezuela).
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Jason M. Reynolds has more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist at outlets of all sizes.
Photo “Smartmatic Voting Systems” by Smartmatic.
