Chicago and Cook County recently signed a $50.2 Million contract with Sequoia Voting Systems. This sum is more than double the amount Venezuelan interests paid to acquire British-based De La Rue Cash Systems' 85% interest in Sequoia Voting Systems less than a year ago. Why buy the product when for less money you could buy the whole company?  

De La Rue, PLC, the world 's largest commercial security printer and papermaker, as well as a significant gambling enterprise, sold their interest in Sequoia at a loss, having acquired the company fom Ireland-based Jefferson Smurfit Group PLC, a paper and packaging company, for more than $23 million in 2002, in a deal that could have been worth as much as $35 million if Sequoia met certain sales and earnings targets.

Sequoia's purchaser was Smartmatic Corp, a Boca Raton, Florida company incorporated in 2000. It's president is Antonio Mugica Rivero, who allegedly was refused a tourist visa by the U.S. State Department when he attempted to visit his company's headquarters last October. The company's vice president is Alfredo Anzola. Mugica is also president (according to Florida records of its incorporation in 2001) of the software company, Bizta Corp, which provides voting software and is 28% owned by the Venezuelan government. Venezuelan records, however, indicate that Anzola, not Mugica is president. In Caracas, Bizta shares its office with Smartmatic.

Tracking the ownership of Smartmatic is a daunting task, running through such companies as Smartmatic International Holding B.V., a Netherlands firm in which the sole shareholder is Amola Investments N.V. In turn, Amola appears to be owned by Smartmatic International Group N.V., another Netherlands Antilles corporation. From there he trail gets fainter, but the destination is clearly Caracas.

The interlocking Venezuelan ownership of Smartmatic and Bizta takes on a more interesting aspect when you consider that these two companies supplied the hardware (converted Olivetti lottery machines) and software used in Venezuela's hotly disputed recall election of president Hugo Chavez in 2004. Despite pre-election polls that indicated Chavez would lose the recall vote by over 55%, he coasted home the victor. Sounds a lot like Georgia in 2002 and Ohio in 2004 and 2005, doesn't it? Of course when you own 28% of the software company that counted the votes, it might help - echoes of Senator Chuck Hagel's "upset" of popular Ben Nelson in Nebraska when Hagel's voting machine company counted over 80% of Nebraska's votes.