[The Huffington Post UK] If we are going to engage young people in our country’s democratic dialogue we need to modernise our voting system, not just our voting laws

Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, Chairman for Smartmatic, recently published an editorial in The Huffington Post UK about the need to modernise the voting system in UK.
In his piece, Malloch-Brown reflects on the low turnout observed in this year’s General Election and points out that election technology could play a vital role in increasing participation and making elections more secure.
According to a poll run by Smartmatic during Election Day in UK, four out of ten people said that being able to vote online would have made them more likely to turn out.
We invite you to take a minute to read his interesting article clicking here.

Electronic voting plays crucial role in Venezuelan elections

Caracas, Venezuela, December 7, 2015 – Following Venezuela’s recent elections, Smartmatic announced today that its secure automated voting platform guaranteed the flawless results of the nation’s Parliamentary vote. The London-based voting technology provider has serviced Venezuela’s last 14 national elections.

“For more than a decade, Smartmatic has proudly serviced the national elections for the people of Venezuela, demonstrating our commitment to transparency, efficiency and accountability,” said Smartmatic CEO Antonio Mugica. “And this year was no different proving once again that all sides of the political spectrum can be both winners and losers”.
To read the complete article, click here.

[GlobeScan] GlobeScan Dialogues: An interview with Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, Chairman, SGO Corporation

London, 2 December 2015.- A few days ago, GlobeScan Chairman Doug Miller sat with SGO Chairman Lord Mark Malloch-Brown for an interview.

The conversation covered an array of interesting topics, such as the pressures and challenges facing global business leaders nowadays and the importance of resiliency in developing sustainable business models.

Lord Mark Malloch-Brown also shared his thoughts on how markets have become more complex, and how the real impact of technology on business is just beginning to be felt. He recommends practicing deep listening and strategic planning to help business to “stay on their toes.”

"At SGO, one of our most interesting traits is that all of our software programmers live not in the ivory towers of Silicon Valley or Cambridge, or even Shoreditch, but in developing countries. We have programmers in Estonia, Belarus, Venezuela, and Panama; and they experience the problems of citizens in those countries. This gives them a sort of relevant inventiveness that the traditional Western company doesn’t get".

Expanding on this idea, Malloch-Brown said: “It’s one thing to be a Western company that tries to listen but what’s attractive is if you’re lucky enough to be a developing country company – because it’s in your DNA – those are your neighborhoods that you’re designing products for”.

We invite you to read the whole interview here. 

[NetxGov] Why America Needs New Voting Technology

New York City, 14 October 2015.-  With US voting technology nearing the end of its life-cycle, journalists, elections commissions and experts in the field are considering the different options the US has in order to update its aging voting equipment.

Award-winning journalist John Breeden recently wrote the article “Why America Needs New Voting Technology” in which he presents some extracts from a conversation he had with Smartmatic’s CEO, Antonio Mugica at the 2015 Founders Forum for Good in New York City.

Commenting on election technology, Antonio stated: "the technology exists to ensure that election results are completely accurate, auditable and verifiable". Antonio also shared some interesting insights about internet voting and how to make it work.

As Breeden points out in the article, Smartmatic’s technology is trusted because the source code that runs all of the voting machines is disclosed to all interested parties prior to the election. Not everyone gets to see and contribute to the code, so it’s not open source, but election officials and representatives from all the major political parties are able to go over it in detail to ensure no vote flipping routines or program errors exist.

Read the complete article here.

[FindBiometrics] Smartmatic: The Future of Elections is Digital

Robert Cook, Smartmatic’s Worldwide Business Support Vice-President, spoke to FindBiometrics about the future of technology in elections.

Addressing the growing demand for technology-based solutions to improve election administration, he listed Internet voting and biometric authentication as two of the leading trends in the industry. “There is growing interest in adopting biometrics for the efficient and transparent authentication of voters. In addition, countries have realized that once a comprehensive biometric register is available, the information can be used in wide range of crucial government-related projects such as healthcare, financial, social and economic programs.”

“The Internet has brought great expectations to the elections industry. Currently, election management bodies around the world see Internet voting as a perfect substitute for postal voting; and there is little doubt that the future of elections is digital,” he added.
 
FindBiometrics is one of the leading resources of information on biometric identification and identity verification systems and solutions.

Find the interview here.

Smartmatic is now certified by ISO

London, 17 June 2015.- Smartmatic Taiwan was recently awarded an ISO 9001 Quality Management System Certification as well as an ISO 14001 Environmental Management System Certification.
 
These certifications are important to businesses as they reflect commitment to excellence, customer satisfaction, and a compromise to continuous improvement.
 
Because ISO certifications are known worldwide, they can become a key marketing tool and an element of differentiation. Besides guaranteeing better products, they could actually open new business opportunities.
 
ISO 9001 is an internationally recognised quality management set of standards. More than an assessment of a product or set of products, it comprises a methodology based on standards to follow in order to achieve consistent results, implement efficient working practices, and align procedures with corporate objectives.
 
ISO 9001 will help Smartmatic’s Taiwan staff in day-to-day operations as they work to improve consistency of products and services and increase customer satisfaction.
 
ISO 14001:2004 provides a framework to follow in order to set up an efficient and responsible environmental management system.
 
Following ISO 14001 will help management and employees know that any possible environmental impact is being closely monitored and improved.

[The Huffington Post UK] The UK’s Voting System Is Failing Our Democracy, It’s Time to Modernise

The Huffington Post UK published an op-ed authored by Mark Malloch-Brown, Chairman of Smartmatic.
In the piece, he writes about the recent general elections in the UK, stressing the need to modernise voting processes, and points at technology as the perfect tool to improve election administration and to increase participation.
You can read the complete piece here.