For-profit

Sequoia Voting Systems

Website:

www.dominionvoting.com/%20

Location:

Toronto, Canada

Formation:

1970

Type:

Voting Machine Manufacture

President:

Olivia Leland

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Sequoia Voting Systems is a subsidiary of Dominion Voting Systems, a for profit company based in Canada that manufactures digital voting machines, supplying the machines to a large portion of U.S. voters. The company has been forefront in a number of scandals based in its connection to the far-left government of Venezuela and former president Hugo Chavez. Until 2006, Sequoia was owned by Smartmatic, a voting machine manufacturer based in Venezuela that was partially owned by the government. 1

2000 “Hanging Chad” Controversy

Sequoia Voting Systems was one of multiple companies that produced machines responsible for the “Hanging Chad” controversy that occurred in Florida during the 2000 presidential election. Numerous reports accused the company of deliberately or accidently changing what paper they used in the punch cards for their machines. Critics alleged that the switch to different paper caused the bulk of the incomplete punches in cards that the controversy was centered around. Employees of the company allegedly came forward to reveal the switch after the election. These reports were pushed by longtime CBS News anchor Dan Rather, who would later leave the network amid a scandal regarding claims about President George W. Bush’s military service that were based on apparently fabricated documents. 2 3 Rather’s report claimed the company had tested the paper cards before the election and knew that they did not punch as cleanly as popular alternatives. 4

Sale to Dominion

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States launched a probe into Sequoia Voting Systems in 2006 after discovery that the company was owned by a company controlled by members of the radical-socialist Venezuelan government. At the time, the government was run by president and outspoken opponent of the U.S., Hugo Chavez. Chávez won reelection in a special vote to remove him from office in 2004. Sequoia voting machines were used in the election. 5

Smartmatic, then-parent company of Sequoia Research LLC, gave a seat on the board of directors of Sequoia to an unnamed prominent member of the Chávez regime. The chairman of the board of directors for Smartmatic, Mark Malloch Brown, is a member of the Labour Party of the United Kingdom, and a member of the global board of directors for Open Society Foundations, a left-wing private grantmaking organization founded by liberal billionaire George Soros. 6 7

Smartmatic sold Sequoia to Dominion Voting Systems, a Canadian voting machine manufacturer, in 2006 after the CFIUS began looking into its ties with the Venezuelan government. Smartmatic released a statement saying that its decision to sell Sequoia was not based on the increased scrutiny to its state-owned past, but due to increased debate in the United States over foreign ownership within sensitive industries. The CFIUS said that it monitored the sale of the company very closely. 8

Dominion Voting Systems

Sequoia Research is currently owned by Dominion Voting Systems, a Canadian-owned voting machine manufacture that supplies machines to more than 40% of voters in the United States. 9

Dominion Voting Systems donated a large number of its AVM (Automated Voting Machines) to the Clinton Global Initiative to be disbursed to developing countries as part of an initiative to improve elections and create democracy abroad. The Clinton Foundation argued that the donation of machines would directly benefit women in these countries as women are more likely to work in voting centers. 10

References

  1. “Smartmatic to Shed U.S. Unit, End Probe Into Venezuelan Links.” Davis, Bob. Wall Street Journal. December 22, 2006. Accessed November 15, 2020. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB116674617078557263
  2. “Sequoia Voting Systems Responsible for 2000 Presidential Debacle?” Zetter, Kim. Wired. Accessed November 15, 2020. https://www.wired.com/2007/08/sequoia-voting/
  3. Carter, Bill. “Analysis: Post-Mortemof CBS’s Flawed Broadcast.” The New York Times. The New York Times, January 11, 2005. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/business/media/analysis-postmortemof-cbss-flawed-broadcast.html.
  4. “Sequoia Voting Systems Responsible for 2000 Presidential Debacle?” Zetter, Kim. Wired. Accessed November 15, 2020. https://www.wired.com/2007/08/sequoia-voting/
  5. “Smartmatic to Shed U.S. Unit, End Probe Into Venezuelan Links.” Davis, Bob. Wall Street Journal. Accessed November 15, 2020. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB116674617078557263
  6. “Global Board of Directors: Mark Malloch-Brown.” Open Society Foundations. Accessed November 15, 2020. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/who-we-are/boards/global-board/member/mark-malloch-brown.
  7. “Facts about Smartmatic.” Smartmatic.com. Accessed November 15, 2020. https://www.smartmatic.com/us/case-studies/article/facts-about-smartmatic/.
  8. “Smartmatic to Shed U.S. Unit, End Probe Into Venezuelan Links.” Davis, Bob. Wall Street Journal. Accessed November 15, 2020. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB116674617078557263
  9. “About us.” Dominion Voting Systems. Accessed November 15, 2020. https://www.dominionvoting.com/about/
  10. “The DELIAN Project.” Clinton Foundation. Accessed November 15, 2020. https://www.clintonfoundation.org/clinton-global-initiative/commitments/delian-project-democracy-through-technology.
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Sequoia Voting Systems


Toronto,
Canada