Hearsay Culture Kicks Off 2021 with the Visionary Voting Tech Leader

Greensboro, North Carolina, January 8, 2021: KZSU-FM (Stanford)’s Hearsay Culture is relaunching in 2021 with its first guest, global newsmaker Antonio Mugica, CEO of voting technology innovator Smartmatic.

Smartmatic, which has counted billions of votes worldwide, has been at the center of President Trump’s unproven “stolen election” claims, and has been the subject of numerous allegations on 24-hour news outlets like Fox News and Newsmax. Smartmatic has now retained a leading defamation attorney to defend its reputation as a reliable, apolitical election technology provider. The company has found itself enmeshed in a Constitutional crisis that has been threatening the United States’ ability to conduct a peaceful transfer of power in less than two weeks. Hearsay Culture speaks to Mugica about the crisis, the integrity of the company’s technology, the future of voting, and other subjects top of mind with Americans today.

On the show, Mugica addresses what he calls the “completely false claims made about our company” that have been “amplified in the media” recently. Host Dave Levine asks Mugica about his views on transparency in voting, the recent violent occupation of Congress, circulating misinformation campaigns, and his current lawsuit against the government of Venezuela. On a personal note, Mugica discusses his favorite recent book and offers advice to younger listeners who may be experiencing an election for the first time. The result is an insightful, newsmaker interview that sheds light on the heart of the democratic voting process.

Mugica is a 20-year voting machine industry veteran, and his company provided voting technology to Los Angeles during the 2020 elections. The Los Angeles County solution, known as Voting Solutions for All People (VSAP), provides “voter-verified paper records” that go to the heart of public confidence in accurate vote tabulation, and appears to have worked very efficiently in Los Angeles. Although allegedly having ties with the Venezuelan government, Smartmatic has denied any prior or current ties with Venezuela, and no evidence has been offered to prove otherwise. Reuters, in fact, reported that Smartmatic blew the whistle on turnout manipulation problems in Venezuela’s 2017 National Constituent Assembly elections. 

Hearsay Culture, hosted by Elon Law Professor and Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society Affiliate Scholar Dave Levine,is a media platform that features interviews with recognized experts on immediate challenges that span from technology, to law, to the arts. Building upon its 14 year history on Stanford University’s KZSU-FM, Hearsay Culture elevates facts and knowledge, rather than sides and uninformed opinions, offering clear views on emerging issues. Over 260 shows later, the new Hearsay Culture is breaking modern information silos and challenging misleading narratives, soon to be offering closely-moderated debates and other content along with its signature one-on-one long-form interviews. Find out more at hearsayculture.com, on Twitter @hearsayculture, and on Facebook at Hearsay Culture.

The Antonio Mugica interview will air on Friday, January 8 at 8pm pacific on KZSU-FM; stream it live at http://kzsu.stanford.edu/live/. It will be available as a podcast thereafter.  

Media Contact: Dave Levine, dave@hearsayculture.com

# # #