I made a detailed post at dkos http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/28/1... and thought you guys might want to read it:

Generally I have seen some cheap points being scored here about Venezuelan elections, normally they mention that we use electronic voting without any details hoping to ensnare those that against black box voting. But they omit tons of details that ensure that our elections are IMHO the best run elections in the world. I recently helped write an article in wikipedia about the 2006 Venezuelan presidential election There are tons of details over there amd I recommend reading it, but I will stick to the issue at hand after the break...
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Generally I have seen some cheap points being scored here at dailykos about Venezuelan elections, normally they mention that we use electronic voting without any details hoping to ensnare those that against black box voting. But they omit tons of details that ensure that our elections are IMHO the best run elections in the world. I recently helped write an article in wikipedia about the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuelan_pr... There are tons of details over there amd I recommend reading it, but I will stick to the issue at hand after the break...


Paper ballots

All machines are standardized (smartmatic machines) and they ALL print paper ballots, inspected and deposited in a box by voters, which are later used to to audit 54% of all machines. This is done by law whether the margin be 20 points or 500 votes. Saving the loser the embarrasment of calling for a recount. An audit is also better than a recount because every single deviation (even by one vote) is noted and scrutinized, rather than having a recount erase the first count.

Complete transperancy

Every single vote audit is observed by well trained citizens (give credit to the opposition for that) but also international observers including the EU, OAS, Mercosur, and Carter Center. Also all machines are audited beforehand by specialized technitians on all sides.

Results in less than a day

How many elections are still up for grabs from the midterms? obviously the most important advantage of electronic voting is precise results no longer than a few hours, the only thing that takes time after polls close are the inmediate audits.

Full audits after the election

Granted with less oversight, every single detail is audited months after the election.

Here is what I wrote in wikipedia that is more detalied.

Electoral Audits

Even though international observers are present the CNE instituted an open and public series of audits of the vote results. Each electoral center will likely be equiped with multiple touch screen machines each defined as a voting table, after the vote is cast each machine prints out a paper ballot which is inspected by the voter and deposited in a paper ballot box of his table. The machines are disconnected from any network until the polls close.<22>

Tally scrutinization

After the polls close the following event performed step by step.

* Polls closed
* Tally scrutinization announced
* Each machine prints an original tally sheet, each has a voter total and the number of votes cast for each candidate of that particular machine/table.
* Each machine is connected to the network and the results are sent to the vote counting center
* 9 extra tally sheets are printed and distributed to staff and the six representatives of the candidates that recieved the most votes.
* With the original tally sheet in hand the total number of votes cast is compared to the sign up sheet or electoral notebook, finally the electoral ballots are counted one by one to see if they add up to the total. Any anamoly is mentioned in the tally sheet report, signed by staff and auditors. Which is then sealed and given to the military for delivery to the CNE.

Source CNE<22>

Random paper ballot audit

Once the tally scrutinization is complete the staff proceeds to perform the random paper ballot audit of 54.31% of the machines. Each voting center can have anywhere from 1 voting machine to more than 10, the staff randomly selects the tables/machines drawing a number out of a paper hat, the size of the draw is dependant on the number of tables/machines.

Number of Machines Number of Machines to be Audited Total Machines audited
1 to 2 1 5,795
3 to 5 2 6,002
6 to 8 3 4,011
9 to 10 4 980
More than 10 5 770

Source CNE<22>
Audited Total Machine Universe Percentage audited
17,558 32,331 54.31%

Source CNE<22>

The following procedure occurs step by step

* Polls closed
* Tally scrutinization finishes
* Random paper ballot audit announced
* The machines are randomly selected drawing numbers out of a paper hat
* The machine's serial number is recorded
* The corresponding paper ballot box is selected and opened
* The paper ballots results for each candidate are openly counted
* With the original tally printed from the electronic results, both results are audited
* Any anomaly (even if by one vote) is recorded in the audit report
* The origninal audit report is signed by staff and observers, officially sealed and handed to the military for delivery to the CNE
* Copies are handed over to the representatives of the two highest vote getters.

Source CNE<22>

The whole source is this file from the Consejo Nacional Electoral If you can read spanish there are tons more details there.

Here are also a few pictures from national newspapers





Hat tip to http://oilwars.blogspot.com /

PS Sequoia is not Smartmatic, The later owns the former but it was a recent acquisition, I don't know what system Sequoia uses.

I made a previous poll about Venezula's freedom of speech confusion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

Here is one about poll numbers from an opposition pollster. clearing up the dictator talk.



http://oilwars.blogspot.com/

I have lived on the latter and currently live in the former, and find the accusations to be the real caricature, when most are either lying (Bolton) or simply don't know. Anyone is welcome to find out instead of linking to HRW articles that are themselves foreign to reality. I will add this post to my journal in case anybody wants to link to it.


Jailed Journalists

There are 0 jailed journalists in Venezuela http://www.cpj.org/attacks05/pages05/impri... a few stood trial but none were jailed, the only one that may go to jail if caught is Patricia Poleo and indeed the only one to flee the country (currently in the states) she is wanted for being an intellectual mastermind of the Danilo Anderson murder though.

There are four main private TV channels over the airwaves:

Globovision http://www.globovision.com/index.php If I recall the only 24 hour news channel that is broad casted (ie using public airwaves) in the world, they are DEEPLY opposed to Chavez and his government, Fox News does not hold a candle to it, if you want to see it for yourself there is a video link (in spanish obviously), but you may have to pay a fee, if you do watch prime time programing.

RCTV http://www.rctv.net / More of a variety channel, its newscasts and opinion is DEEPLY opposed to the government, They normally appear in the morning or later at night, they have a free video cast, its owner Marciel Granier is also a vocal Chavez critic.

Venevision http://www.venevision.net / Used to be like the above, but they are a bit more moderate nowadays (moderate is defined by just showing the other side, it is that bad) Mostly because its owner Cisneros has more or less accepted his lack of real power, and he has plenty of other business interests in the country.

Televen http://www.venevision.net / Another variety channel, similar to Venevision, they are more moderate because the government advertises on it or at least that is a theory, extremists were also fired from their time slots, but it had more to do with lower ratings than anything else, The more extremist the channel the lower the ratings it gets, and they keep getting lower.

There are three public TV Channels over the airwaves + Telesur (cable only I think)

VTV: http://www.vtv.gov.ve / The original public Channel, there are plans to turn it into a 24 hour news channel, today it is closer in style to PBS culture, variety, news, opinion. Of course it is openly ideological to Chavez on opinion programing. it has a video link.

Vive: www.vive.gob.ve / a new public channel, mostly for political documentaries, don't watch it much

ANTV: www.antv.gob.ve / C-Span clone, controlled by the Legislature.

Radio

There are far too many to show them all, so I will go with the two major ones:

Union Radio http://www.unionradio.com.ve / Privately owned, the only one that has a direct equivalent in the states, it is
right wing talk radio, same extremism, same ethical standards, though with musical intermissions, http://200.74.220.116:8080/ramgen/encoder/... here is an audio link (spanish) recommend the afternoons. A recent conspiracy theory two of their talking heads posited yesterday was that VTV digitally added the applauses to Chavez speech... that type of irrationality.

RNV http://www.rnv.gov.ve/noticias / Similar to VTV but on radio, has an audio link.

Print

Now it gets easier because a few of them can be easily read online and translated to with google or altavista.

El Universal www.eud.com Strong opposition newspaper, check out their opinion pieces in particular http://opinion.eluniversal.com / they also have an english version but that never makes the print edition so why bother.

El Nacional http://el-nacional.com / Another opposition newspaper, articles can be read by paid subscription

Tal Cual http://www.talcualdigital.com / Another strong Chavez critic, its editor and star writer attempted a campaign for the presidency but failed to get more than 3% in the press polls, he now backs the unity opposition candidate, the only credit he gets is that on occasion he blisters the opposition as well. Also has paid subscription.

Panorama www.panodi.com Regional Zulia paper and perhaps the most sympathetic to Chavez in all of the privately owned media. free but lousy archives.

Ultimas Noticias http://www.ultimasnoticias.com.ve / The most neutral media in the country and most sold newspaper, displacing both El Universal and Nacional during this political saga. paid subscription.

There are plenty more opposition papers but I have not read them in detail you can find the rest here: http://www.prensaescrita.com/america/venez... in particular el mundo, nuevo pais, notitarde, etc. all opposition papers.

Internet

Common citizens also have their say and it generally more radicalized

Noticiero Digital www.noticierodigital.com on the surface it si an opinion aggregator (visually elegant as well, check out their opinion pieces on the right) but its forums http://www.noticierodigital.com/forum/view... is a freerpublic like clone, only more extreme (there is the occasional Pinochet appreciation thread). Its only saving grace is that anyone can post regardless of political affiliation, just that there are far fewer Chavistas.

aporrea http://aporrea.org / The other side of the coin. Less extreme because they are less angry.

A political cartoons can also bridge the language divide published in Tal Cual.