Smartmatic (also referred as Smartmatic Corp. or Smartmatic International) is a multinational company that specializes in building and implementing electronic voting systems. The company also produces smart cities solutions[buzzword] (including public safety and public transportation), identity management systems for civil registration and authentication products for government applications.

In 1997,[4] three engineers, Antonio Mugica, Alfredo José Anzola and Roger Piñate, began collaborating in a group while working at Panagroup Corp. in Caracas, Venezuela.[5][6][7][8][9] Following the 2000 United States presidential election and its hanging chad controversy in Florida, the group proposed to dedicate a system toward electoral functions.[9][10] Smartmatic was officially incorporated on 11 April 2000 in Delaware by Alfredo José Anzola.[11][12][13] Smartmatic then established its headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida with seven employees.[7][8] After receiving funds from private investors,[7] the company then began to expand.

Following the 2004 Venezuelan recall election, Smartmatic acquired Sequoia Voting Systems, one of the leading US companies in automated voting products[99][100] from the British company De La Rue in 2005.[90] Following this acquisition, U.S. Representative Carolyn B. 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".[101] 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.[102] According to Sequoia, the tabulation problems were due to human error, as a post-election check identified only three mechanical problems in 1,000 machines checked[102] while election officials blamed poor training.[103] Other issues were suspected to be related to software errors linked to the voting system's central computer.[104]

Following the request, Smartmatic and Sequoia submitted a request to be reviewed by the CFIUS while also denying links to the Venezuelan government.[105] The company disclosed that it was owned by Antonio Mugica (78.8%), Alfredo Anzola (3.87%), Roger Pinate (8.47%), Jorge Massa Dustou (5.97%) and employees (2.89%).[106] Smartmatic subsequently sold Sequoia and later withdrew from Cook County in December 2006.[107]

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.[107] 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".[9][3] 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",[104] while BBC News states that though Smartmatic says the company was founded in the United States, "its roots are firmly anchored in (Venezuela)".[3] Multiple sources simply state that Smartmatic is a Venezuelan company.[108] Smartmatic maintains that the holding companies in multiple countries are used for "tax efficiency".[109]