BOCA RATON, Fla., Oct. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Sequoia Voting Systems, Inc. ("Sequoia") and its parent, the Smartmatic Corporation ("Smartmatic"), today announced that, contrary to reports, the companies have voluntarily submitted a notice to the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The companies filed voluntarily in order to allow the U.S. Government to review Smartmatic's acquisition of Sequoia.

"No foreign government or entity -- including Venezuela -- has ever held an ownership stake in Smartmatic, and we have voluntarily filed with CFIUS to put to rest the baseless but persistent rumors about our ownership," said Antonio Mugica, Chief Executive Officer, Smartmatic.

The firm is owned primarily by three young entrepreneurs: Antonio Mugica, a dual-Spanish-Venezuelan national (78.8%); Alfredo Anzola (3.87%); and Roger Pinate (8.47%). The other main investor is Jorge Massa (5.97%), a well-known French-Venezuelan businessman. Smartmatic employees and friends and family own the remainder of the firm (2.89%).

As part of the CFIUS process, Smartmatic and Sequoia have voluntarily provided significant information to CFIUS on all aspects of the two firms' businesses and ownership and the security and integrity of Sequoia's voting solutions.

"As a company, we sought out a CFIUS review because we are confident it will clear the air so we can focus on what we do best -- making the world's most secure and auditable voting solutions," added Antonio Mugica.

Press Conference: 2:00pm, Washington, DC, October 30th, 2006.

Smartmatic and Sequoia will hold a press conference tomorrow -- Monday, October 30 -- to present additional information on their voluntary filing, the company's ownership and operating structure and to take questions.

The press conference will be held at Sutherland Asbill and Brennan LLP, 1275 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC 20004 at 2:00PM, Monday, October 30th, 2006.

A call-in number for journalists will be distributed tomorrow. About Smartmatic (http://www.smartmatic.com/) and Sequoia (http://www.sequoiavote.com/)

Smartmatic and Sequoia are leaders in the provision of secure and reliable voting solutions and pioneers in the introduction of electronic voting systems with a Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail.

A privately-held, independent corporation with 300 employees worldwide, Smartmatic is an international leader in the provision of secure, reliable and auditable voting systems.

Sequoia Voting Systems is an American company, based in Oakland, California with a 100-year history of providing accurate, reliable, state-of- the-art voting solutions dating back to the nation's first lever-based mechanical voting equipment in the 1890s. Sequoia provides election technology, services and support to state and local government including precinct-based optical scan ballot readers, high-speed central count optical scan ballot readers, ballot layout and printing services, and full-face and paginating electronic voting equipment with optional printers that produce voter verifiable paper records. The company has hundreds of customers throughout the country and its voting equipment will be used on November 7th, 2006 in 16 states plus the District of Columbia.

Sequoia has been providing electronic voting equipment for twenty-five years and leads the industry with our AVC Advantage full-face push button electronic voting system and the AVC Edge touchscreen system.

CONTACT: Michelle Shafer of Sequoia Voting, +1-512-426-5658,
mshafer@sequoiavote.com, or Mitch Stoller of Smartmatic, +1-212-751-3327,
mstoller@groupsjr.com

Web site: http://www.smartmatic.com/
http://www.sequoiavote.com/