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| NIST Electronic Voting machine Report (July 6, 2010) (PDF File) |
| 2020-11-29 |
| NIST = National Institute of Standards and Technology [NIST.gov] IV. Dominion, Now the Largest or Second Largest Voting System Company, Is Foreign Controlled and Depends Upon Secret Source Code Created and Owned by Smartmatic, a Foreign Controlled Company With Ties to The Venezuelan Government Led by Hugo ChavezPrivately-heldCanadian voting system company Dominion19in the past few weeks has purchased (1) Diebold voting systems from ES&S, and (2) Sequoia Voting Systems.20These purchases reportedly make Dominion the largest or second largest voting system company in the UnitedStates.21Dominion is reported by Dun & Bradstreet to be a Toronto-based company with one listed key official, board members and employee, John Poulos, and under $18 million in sales for which the company obtains no income.22On May 19, 2010, Dominion announced its purchase of Diebold voting systems from ES&S and on June 28, 2010, a federal court required ES&S to sell voting systemsassets that ES&S purchased from Diebold to resolve an antitrust suit brought by the United States against ES&S.23According to Dominion‟s press release,"Premiervoting systems are currently in use in over 1,400 jurisdictions in 33 states and serve nearly 28 million American voters."Of the deal, John Poulos, the President, CEO and Director of Dominion declared:"We are extremely pleased to conclude this transaction, which will restore much-needed competition to the American voting systems market and will allow Dominion to expand its capabilities and operational footprint to every corner of the United States." In a separate transaction announced on June 4, 2010, Dominion bought Sequoia Voting Systems, which is, according to Dominion, "a major U.S. provider of voting solutions serving nearly300 jurisdictions in 16 states."John Poulos of Dominionheralded this deal as "another important milestone in Dominion‟s efforts to provide election officials in every region of the United States the widest array of comprehensive and innovative options when it comes to election solutions."25Before the Sequoia acquisition, Dominion had workedwith Sequoia in New York State for over three years, and had hired away one or more senior officials from Sequoia, including Edwin Smith, who now is a member of the Technical Guidelines Development Committee.26Dominion represents that, "as part of the transaction,Dominion has acquired Sequoia‟s inventory and all intellectual property, including software, firmware and hardware."But Sequoia could only sell to Dominion that which its owns. When Smartmatic sold Sequoia to an investment group led by Sequoia‟s management team,27during an investigation by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)28into the identity of the person(s) who ultimately own Smartmatic and its ties to the Chavez government,29Smartmatic apparently retained ownership of the software used in Sequoia voting systems to cast and count votes, licensing to Sequoia that software, which Smartmatic develops in Venezuela. Efforts to date have not succeeded in determining the ultimate owners of Smartmatic or the extent to which Smartmatic and the Chavez government of Venezuela have influence over U.S. elections through Smartmatic‟s control of the software that counts votes for Sequoia (now Dominion) voting machines. Concern is that Smartmatic‟s sale of Sequoia "was fraudulent,"31"asham transaction designed to fool regulators."32Dominion apparently will employVenezuelan-run Smartmatic‟s propriety software in at least the Sequoia voting systems that it now owns. Dominion also is engaged in Internet voting outside the United States,33and could employ Venezuelan-run Smartmatic‟s propriety software in Internet voting in U.S. elections. Notonly is it not known who owns and controls Smartmatic, we do not know who owns and controls privately-held and Canadian-based Dominion. Does Dominion owe Smartmatic on the Sequoia loan or earn-out? How was Dominion able to finance these Diebold and Sequoia purchases? Who is going to finance Dominion‟s work through the November 2010 election? |
| Posted by:Ulavirong Omeager2818 |