You can correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that the Venezuelan government bought a share of Smartmatic before the previous election, and that the software set that Smartmatic used was written by a Venezuelan company that had not previously written software for voting machines, but was chosen by the Chavez regime.
The opposition parties were not allowed to see the software, or to test the machines prior to the election. They were also not allowed to test suspect machines after the election. Needless to say, the Carter Center did not verify either the machines or the software, they weren't allowed to have witnesses in the election command center, and the regime chose which boxes of ballots to recount afterward, and Carter accepted that as legitimate.
I have long considered Carter to be smarmy, but this election convinced me that he is corrupt as well.
This election can be considered rigged if again they will not allow the machines to be verified, and they will not allow impartial observers in the election headquarters.
I agree. Does anybody know if Mary Anastasia O'Grady knows about this? (Our one good writer on VZ.)
I'm going to send her an e-mail if I can find an address. Or maybe just c/o the WSJ.