Smarmatic, the company with origin in Bolivarian Venezuela that is at the center of the controversy after being accused by Donald Trump's electoral team of being part of the alleged electoral fraud committed in the vote counting of the last North American elections and for its commercial relations and due to its electoral management tools shared with the firm Dominion Voting Systems , also noted for being an active element in the possible upset, it leaves less and less room for doubt about its relations with the Democratic Party. So much so that Peter Neffenger , current chairman of the Smartmatic US board of directors , is also part of Joe's “transition team”.Biden , within what would be the Department of Homeland Security of a hypothetical future Biden- Harris Government. 

Peter Neffenger appears on the Smartmatic website as a member of the company's board of directors , as well as a brief description of his professional activity. "Vice Admiral Peter Neffenger (retired USCG) had a distinguished career in the Coast Guard of the United States, where he served as deputy commander until June 29th 2015, when it was confirmed by the Senate of the US to lead the 'Transportation Security Administration' (TSA), a position he held until January 2017 ”.

In Neffenger's profile on the Linkedin professional network , he also presents himself as president of the Board of Directors of Smartmatic in the United States. "He is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Smartmatic , USA , and is a member of the Board of Directors of Baldwin Wallace University, in addition to holding positions on other corporate and advisory boards," is indicated as part of the contact information .

At the same time, on the Biden- Harris website , which outlines what the presumed and future Government of the Democratic Party could be, in the “Transition” section, Neffenger appears as a “self-employed employee” who would become part of the Department of Homeland Security .

A press release by The Associated Press in 2018 mentions the incorporation of experts in national security and elections to the Board of Directors of Smartmatic in the US The information includes testimonies from Antonio Múgica, executive director of Smartmatic and Neffenter , who is already designated as "president" of the company. In the press release, Peter Neffenger , as head of Smarmatic explained as follows: "The Department of Homeland Security has designated electoral systems US as part of the critical infrastructure of the nation. The growing threat of cyberattacks to the US elections has put electoral infrastructure and the need for security and technology improvements front and center. The growing threat of cyberattacks to US elections has put the electoral infrastructure at the forefront and the need for security and technology improvements. Our Board is fully focused on supporting Smartmatic's collaborative and transparent work with industry representatives; regulators; federal, state and local governments; and electoral officials to promote a strong and stable sector with the integrity of the elections as the main focus ”.

The same statement reads that Smartmatic had recently opened "its West Coast office in Santa Monica, California, which houses about 50 local employees," adding that the company was working with Los Angeles County "in a new election system for 2020.

The Smartmatic scandals

As has been informing La Tribuna del País Vasco, Smartmatic , born in 2000 under the tutelage of the Bolivarian regime of Hugo Chavez, he made the leap to the US in 2006. His ties to Chavez back to 2004, when A Venezuelan government agency, according to the New York Times, invested $ 200,000 in a technology company owned by the same owners as Smartmatic: Bitza . That same company, together with Smartmatic and the Venezuelan CANTV, won that year the award of a contract to provide their services to the 2004 recall referendum, denounced by organizations such as Súmate or Esdata for fraud.

Since that year, the company specialized in electronic voting systems was a privileged contractor of the Venezuelan dictatorial regime until 2017. In fact, Smartmatic played a fundamental role in most of the controversial electoral processes, such as those of 2010, 2012 and 2013 (the most notable, that between the current dictator, Nicolás Maduro, and Henrique Caprile ).

A recent information published by El American explains the history of the Canadian company Dominion, today also accused of being part of the alleged network of electoral fraud and its links with Smartmatic , which, as La Tribuna del País Vasco also reported, was investigated by the Committee of Foreign Investment of the United States.

Smartmatic , at the time, caused concern even among Democratic members of Congress, such as Carolyn Maloney, who asked the Treasury Department for an investigation into the purchase of “Sequoia” - a major company in the private electoral system - by Smartmatic .

Sequoia, after being bought, had an internal revolution. Their machines were replaced by equipment developed and patented by Smartmatic . All its software, in fact, became the intellectual property of the Venezuelan company.

The investigation by the US Foreign Investment Committee reached a resolution: that Smartmatic sell Sequoia. The company “complied” with what was dictated, but later, as reflected in various legal proceedings, it was revealed that Smartmatic had direct interests with Sequoia.

Finally, in 2010, Sequoia was acquired by the Dominion Voting Systems company , today accused by the legal team of President Donald Trump of electoral fraud and of having direct links with Smartmatic , a company that has a board of directors in the United States in which, Peter Neffenger is serving as president and is now part of Joe Biden's transition team .