After Stolen Vote, Smartmatic said it Left Venezuela But Its Software Was Used in More Elections

Two other sources who served on the electoral council and have first-hand knowledge of the 2017 and 2018 elections confirmed the story. They asked not to be named because they fear for the safety

“Contacted by the Miami Herald, Smartmatic, whose co-founder and president lives in South Florida, initially denied that its software had been used in Venezuela after it announced it was pulling out of the country. “Smartmatic software has not been used in any election in Venezuela since the National Constituent Assembly elections in 2017, when Smartmatic publicly denounced that the National Electoral Council reported voter turnout data different from that reflected in the system,” the company told the Herald in an email. But the company’s position changed when it was told the Herald had the audits showing Smartmatic’s software was used in Venezuelan elections after it claimed it had pulled out of the country.”

Related: Smartmatic executives charged in alleged bribery scheme in the Philippines

After disputed vote, Smartmatic said it left Venezuela. But its software was used in more elections

By: Miami Herald, October 8, 2024:

Smartmatic, the electronic-voting company, decried Venezuela’s socialist regime for cheating in a 2017 election and a few months later announced it would stop running elections in the South American country after 13 years.

But documents from Venezuela’s National Electoral Council obtained by the Miami Herald show that Smartmatic licensed its software for use in three other elections after that, at least two of them secretly: the municipal elections of December 2017 and the disputed presidential election of May 2018.

Sources consulted for this story said the use of Smartmatic software in the municipal and the presidential elections was meant to be kept under wraps, and that Venezuelan officials and company executives agreed to use another company to hide Smartmatic’s involvement. “They literally used a third company to hide the participation of Smartmatic, but it was Smartmatic that provided the technicians to… have the software ready to use in the voting machines,” a source who was on the National Electoral Council at the time told the Herald.

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