[News] How Voting Works in Venezuela

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://venezuelanalysis.com/News/13801


  Explained: How Voting Works in Venezuela

By TeleSur English & Venezuelanalysis.com
May 9, 2018
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Venezuela's election process has been lauded by numerous organizations 
and observers not only for its high turnout, but also for the 
transparency and checks involved in the voting and scrutiny.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said: "Of the 92 elections that we've 
monitored, I would say that the election process in Venezuela is the 
best in the world."

Below are all the elements involved in the vote.

*Requirements and Eligibility*

Venezuelans who are 18 years of age or older are eligible to vote in an 
election, after registering.

Venezuelans living abroad who have a resident or permanent visa and who 
have registered at their nearest embassy or consulate are also eligible 
to vote at voting centers which will be set up at all of Venezuela’s 
diplomatic missions across the world on May 20. Foreigners living in 
Venezuela with a resident or permanent visa are legally entitled to vote 
in local and regional elections, but not national elections. This means 
that on May 20 foreigners living in Venezuela under these visa 
conditions will be able to vote for their state councilors, but not for 
the presidential elections.

Article 63 of the constitution says: 'Suffrage is a right. It is 
exercised through free, universal, direct and secret ballots. The law 
will guarantee the principle of individuality of suffrage and 
proportional representation.'

All registered Venezuelans need to vote with their national ID card with 
their unique ID number, photo, and fingerprint on. The card can even be 
expired. Rumours that voters need to present other ID such as the 
Homeland Card are false.

*Security and Guarantees*

Venezuela's elections utilize the latest in secure voting technology to 
ensure that each vote is counted fairly and cannot be tampered with. It 
was the first in the world to use voting machines that print a receipt 
so that each voter can confirm their vote with a physical backup.

Beginning in 2012, Venezuela's elections used biometric authentication 
to activate the voting machine.

The current voting machines in use are the Smartmatic Auditable Election 
System (SAES) by Smartmatic, which are 100 percent auditable at each stage.

Smartmatic, a British based multinational who denounced the July 2017 
electoral process, was responsible for overseeing the hardware of the 
voting machines, and never had any contact with the software nor the 
transmission nor totalisation of votes, rendering its claims in 2017 
obsolete. It is no longer contracted by the CNE to maintain the 
machine's hardware.

Venezuela’s entire electoral process has and will go through 16 
different audits per process. These audits include auditing of the 
electoral register, the software, the voting books, the hardware, etc. 
Each audit is not only presided over by international observers, but 
also representatives of each participating political party. It is common 
for representatives from right-wing parties which later criticize the 
electoral process to make use of their right to send representatives to 
each audit, signing that they are happy with proceedings at the end.

The final vote count is confirmed with the physical vouchers that voters 
put in the receipt box, and then transmitted electronically through a 
network isolated from the internet and any computer to assure that no 
interference can occur.

Electronically, votes are stored on the machines in a random order to 
avoid sequence counting of voters.

The vote will be witnessed and audited by international and national 
political observers, technicians and political organizations. The 
National Electoral Council has invited the United Nations and the 
Caribbean Community (Caricom) to send representatives to observe the 
process, with the former refusing to send observers as they did not deem 
it necessary. International observers will be present in roughly half of 
Venezuela’s 23 states. On election day they will observe the setting up 
of the centers, the preparation of the machines and the software, the 
voting process, and the final totalisation.

*Voting*

These are the five steps involved in voting in Venezuela:

1. When arriving at a poll, voters are directed to the voting table that 
corresponds to them. At the table, there is a list with voters' 
identification card numbers to allow a person to confirm their table. 
This is an anonymous process by number with no names involved. Venezuela 
has one of the highest rates of center per voters in the world, with 
roughly one voting center per 500 residents.

2. The voter then goes to that table to present the document that 
confirms their identity. Pregnant women, the elderly, disabled, public 
emergency workers (firemen, policemen, etc) are given priority and do 
not have to queue. The voter then places their index finger or thumb on 
a fingerprint scanning device which checks that the person present in 
the center corresponds to the fingerprint on the ID card.

3. Once their identity is verified, the voting machine will unlock so 
that the voter can choose the option of their preference. Voting is on a 
touch screen machine behind a screen. Once selected, the choice can be 
changed up until the 'vote' button is pressed.

In case there is any doubt about the voting process, the election 
official explains the steps involved.

After selecting their preferred option, the voter should press the 
'vote' button. The machine then prints a receipt of the vote for the 
voter to read and confirm.

The voter has three minutes to vote. After two minutes of inactivity the 
machine makes a noise to remind the voter that one minute is left. The 
only way to vote null is to let the three minutes expire.

4. The voter then deposits this receipt in the corresponding ballot box 
which is usually placed in the center of the room under constant 
observation by the CNE staff and all parties’ political witnesses at 
every booth.

5. Finally, the voter signs and places their fingerprint in the 
elections roll to confirm that they have voted.

*Poll Closing and Tally Scrutinization*

Polls are closed at a polling station at 6 pm unless the CNE extends 
voting periods, and only after everyone in line to vote has voted.

Once tally scrutinization on the machine finishes, a random paper ballot 
audit is announced where the machines to be audited are randomly 
selected drawing numbers, and the machine's serial number is recorded. 
53% of all voting machines in the country are audited on voting day 
before totalisation. This audit is public (a citizens audit) meaning 
that members of the community can come into the voting center to observe 
and corroborate the process. The audit checks totalisation tallies per 
candidate between the electronic result and the physical paper receipts 
in the box which is now opened. Venezuela is the only country in the 
world which does an on-the-spot audit after centers have closed.

The audit report is signed by election poll staff and observers from 
each party present, then sealed and handed to the military for delivery 
to the CNE.

Copies of the report are handed over to the representatives of the two 
highest vote-getters.

Finally, machine tallies are transmitted to the CNE central totalisation 
offices through either secure feeds using Venezuela’s satellites, or 
through a secure feed set up with a unique modem which is provided with 
the voting machine.

Venezuela’s voting system is completely safeguarded against any possible 
problem or scenario. Voting machines have inbuilt spare batteries, spare 
machines are stored close to every voting center. There are written and 
authorized protocols for rare situations like voters who can't leave 
their fingerprint due to missing the corresponding fingers, or voters 
who need extra assistance to vote such as the disabled or extremely 
elderly. Every scenario has been thought of and an inclusive process 
established to make maximum voting possible.

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 https://freedomarchives.org/
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