When Smartmatic opened in April 2000, it offered its services to banks. The move to electoral security came after Antonio Mugica, the company’s founder and chief executive, was in Palm Beach County during the contested 2000 election. “We were in the front row watching that circus,” he said. “And it really made an impact on all of us.”
The company has succeeded in offering its electronic ballot boxes, online voting platforms and software products for elections around the world. It was also used in the 2016 Republican presidential caucus in Utah. In 2018, Los Angeles County chose Smartmatic to implement a new electoral system, and its technology was used there in the presidential primaries in March and again in the general election.
After election day, the name of the company, along with Dominion’s, became an integral part of the fraud conspiracies promoted by the right-wing media. Smartmatic employees and their families received threats, including death threats, some of which were mentioned in the complaint.
“I had one where they told me they were really going to kidnap me in London, where I was at the time,” said Mugica. “They were sending three people. ‘The plane lands tomorrow.’ “
Another threat, he said, targeted the teenage son of the company’s co-founder, Roger Piñate. “They were able to find their cell phone number, which is scary enough,” said Mugica. “And to call and threaten you over the phone.”
Smartmatic’s complaint includes the argument that the promotion of debunked theories about the election has undermined democracy.
“You look not only at the effect of the conduct on the complainant, but also at the wider effect that the message can have, and that is the wider effect of that,” J. Erik Connolly, a lawyer representing Smartmatic, said. “If you are awarding punitive damages, which are largely meant to say, ‘Don’t do this again’, it is a broader message. This is relevant to a broader message that a court or jury must send here. “
Edmund Lee contributed reporting. Kitty Bennett contributed research.