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<div class="header reader-header" style="display: block;"
dir="ltr"> <font size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/News/13801">https://venezuelanalysis.com/News/13801</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Explained: How Voting Works in
Venezuela</h1>
<div class="credits reader-credits">By TeleSur English &
Venezuelanalysis.com</div>
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<div class="reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr"
style="text-align: left;">May 9, 2018<br>
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<p>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.</p>
<p>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."</p>
<p>Below are all the elements involved in the vote.</p>
<p><strong>Requirements and Eligibility</strong></p>
<p>Venezuelans who are 18 years of age or older are
eligible to vote in an election, after registering.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.'</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p><strong>Security and Guarantees</strong></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Beginning in 2012, Venezuela's elections used
biometric authentication to activate the voting
machine.</p>
<p>The current voting machines in use are the Smartmatic
Auditable Election System (SAES) by Smartmatic, which
are 100 percent auditable at each stage.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Electronically, votes are stored on the machines in a
random order to avoid sequence counting of voters.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p><strong>Voting</strong></p>
<p>These are the five steps involved in voting in
Venezuela:</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>In case there is any doubt about the voting process,
the election official explains the steps involved.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>5. Finally, the voter signs and places their
fingerprint in the elections roll to confirm that they
have voted.</p>
<p><strong>Poll Closing and Tally Scrutinization</strong></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Copies of the report are handed over to the
representatives of the two highest vote-getters.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
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Freedom Archives
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San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
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