SANTIAGO DE CHILE, Chile--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Smartmatic, the world’s leading election technology and services provider, empowered Chilean citizens during a three-day election in the Commune of Maipu last weekend.

Using Smartmatic’s multi-channel voting platform, Chileans had the opportunity to cast a ballot either online or to vote in person in precincts equipped with electronic voting machines. Citizens 14 years of age and older were eligible to vote from December 11-13 to decide on how best to allocate public funds.

“We are proud to bring to Chile an integrated solution which includes class-leading electronic voting machines and the world’s most advanced Internet voting system,” said Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, Smartmatic’s Chairman.

“From the very concept of participatory budgets, to the offering of several methods to vote, and the inclusion of assistive technology to enfranchise voters with disabilities, these elections made voting easier and more efficient for any voter.”

The Internet voting solution deployed in Chile was developed by the Smartmatic-Cybernetica Centre for Excellence for Internet Voting, based on the proven and trusted Estonian i-voting solution which has been enhanced to meet the online voting requirements of electoral management bodies across the world.

The elections were part of the project "Tu barrio gana” (your neighborhood wins in Spanish) which empowers citizens by making them part of the resource allocation process. The commune of Maipu distributed some $550,000 among a wide range of infrastructure projects.

“This initiative clearly reflects the digital revolution we are witnessing around the world. Technology is transforming how citizens relate to government by creating more and better channels of communication. Our R&D labs are working none stop to develop tools to make this transformation possible,” added Malloch-Brown.

About Smartmatic

Smartmatic focuses on creating technology and offering services that have a profound social impact. By helping governments conduct more transparent and efficient elections, we have processed over 2.5 billion auditable, secret and secure votes in elections in five continents.

Smartmatic employs over 600 people in the US, UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Mexico, Barbados, Haiti, Brazil, Panama, Venezuela, Philippines, United Arab Emirates and Taiwan.