U.S. voting-machine shocker:Does Hugo Chavez own 'em? [recycling 2006 post due to recent mention in

WorldNetDaily ^ | October 28, 2006

[Yaelle]

Truly scary bump.

[FreeAtlanta]

I have always wanted a paper trail, but I don't want voters to carry the voting slip out with them. It would set us up for coercion (i.e. union thugs forcing voters to show who they voted for).

The vote needs to print out and the voter then needs to drop it in a locked box.

[FreeAtlanta]

You have a point. Whenever the left screams too loudly about something, it usually means they are doing it.

[BobL]

AGREED - the slips would simply be deposited in a locked box, just as we did here in Texas with our punch ballots, before going "High-Tech". If an election is contested, open up a few of the boxes, compare with Chavez's software results, and, if not consistent, start counting paper.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why ANYONE is stupid enough to allow machines that stick our votes into software only to EVER be used in elections.

This is unreal.

[eleni121]

Again from thew website I posted - the conclusion:

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=589189

"The legacy of Smartmatic is a tangled web indeed that has led investigators to Switzerland, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Italy, South America and elsewhere in an effort to solve the riddle. Obviously I have no knowledge about this personally and I am relying on The Miami Herald and Orlando Ochoa’s published research on the matter as two of my primary sources. Having said that, Ochoa’s research clearly suggests that while many of the individual players in this soap opera are largely concealed, it isn’t too far fetched to conclude that, due
to the obviously intimate connections, the Venezuelan government most likely has a major controlling interest in Smartmatic Corporation."

[AmericaUnited]

Venezuelans had provided technical support during the election and that some of the glitches could be traced to a component developed in Venezuela to print and transmit results to a central tabulation computer.

This is beyond funny. "Don't worry... it's just the part that transmits the totals to the central tabulator..."

[af_vet_rr]

For the life of me, I cannot understand why ANYONE is stupid enough to allow machines that stick our votes into software only to EVER be used in elections.

There are plenty of idiots in this country who trust things they either don't understand, or don't think will impact them.

People who don't think we need paper trails are of the types that end up as candidates for Darwin Awards, i.e., stupid and naive.

[ChurtleDawg]

just another reason not to trust these voting machines. MD Governor Bob Ehrlich has been pleading with people to vote via absentee ballot because the MD systems have so many flaws

[ChurtleDawg]

what I can't understand is that everytime you use an ATM card or a credit card you get a reciept, even if you are just buying a bag of chips at 7-11

but you don't get a paper slip after you vote

WTF?

[annie laurie]

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez may control the company that operates electronic voting machines in 17 states.

And those 17 states are...??????

I was wondering the same thing. So far, here's what I've found:

States designated as high risk because they use DREs with no paper backup are: Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

Source: http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1420&Itemid=26

Another article from the same site:

With a $13.3 million contract signed Friday by Alameda County, Sequoia Voting Systems arguably became the dominant voting-system maker in California, with more counties than any other.

Outside California, a controversy has sprung up over the foreign ownership of Oakland-based Sequoia.

Politicians in the Windy City and CNN journalist Lou Dobbs suggested recently that the federal government was derelict in not having investigated Sequoia and its acquisition last year by Smartmatic, a Boca Raton, Fla., firm largely owned by Venezuelan businessmen.

After Chicago and Cook County were plagued with delays this spring in tallying a primary, city alderman Edward Burke suggested Sequoia's voting machines were part of a conspiracy by Venezuela President Hugo Chavez to manipulate U.S. elections.

"We may have stumbled across what could be (an) international conspiracy to subvert the electoral process in the United States of America," Burke told reporters. "Tell me a single, solitary reason there is to trace ownership through three shell corporations to the Curacao Islands and its roots to Venezuela, where they have already been involved with the dictator of Venezuela, who Defense Secretary (Donald) Rumsfeld says is an enemy of the United States."

Source: http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1411&Itemid=51

I found another entry on a blog site from March of this year:

"Who would have guessed that Chavez and his cronies -- never content to demonstrate the evils of state ownership of private companies on just their own citizens -- now own the company that makes American voting machines!

Source: http://www.objectivismonline.net/blog/archives/000734.html

[ConservativeMind]

Honestly, if we aren't worried about Diebold machines, in which exploits have been proven, then why are we worried about Chavez?

These machines have been independently certified and leave a paper trail.

Unless the DUmmies actually are on to something, to which I understand the concern, but if the technology is fine, there can't be a concern.

Right?

[thelastvirgil]

Other than going against the "we've got to know the winner the moment the polls close" tide, can someone please explain just what in Sam Hill is wrong with hand-counted paper ballots?

[The Hound Passer]

Sure, but the real question is, are Lefties as suspicious/critical about Smartmatic machines as they are Diebold? It's the flip-side of the same coin. The CEO of Diebold a staunch Republican; Chavez an explicit Bush hater, and Dim suckup.

In simplest terms would the left see:

a GOP win in a Diebold machine district = voter fraud
a Dim win in a Smartmatic machine district = free and fair election

I think we know the answer. I have a feeling if districts across the nation started adopting Smartmatic machines the whole touch screen voting issue would fade away because the Left is OK if they assume any fraud with touch screen machines (not saying their is or ever has been) is going their way

[Rippin]

Problem with hand counted paper ballots is that we no longer have a civic sense of duty. Public schools have generated such apathy that the only people working voting booths are union thugs and older folks. The civic layer is gone. Eventually this will be completely automated because there will be noone to staff the precincts.

[The Hound Passer]

Other than going against the "we've got to know the winner the moment the polls close" tide, can someone please explain just what in Sam Hill is wrong with hand-counted paper ballots?

Because Dims are too, well, dim, to understand that Pat Buchanan isn't Al Gore.

[A. Pole]

Actually we deserve it - for laughing off the Dems when they said that they wanted a "paper trail".

Once the "paper trail" is gone, say goodbye to real elections.

[A. Pole]

I would find it hard to believe any sane Republican would not want a paper trail

Republicans are as human as Democrats are.

[Doc91678]

If the Democrats win big and Carter proclaims that it was an honest election. Watch out. He said the same for Chavez. See where Venezuela is now.

[devolve]

[A. Pole]

States designated as high risk because they use DREs with no paper backup are: Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

In 2004 presidential elections out of these Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania got results favorable for Kerry.