U.S.-LED CONSORTIUM TO PROVIDE ELECTORAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 000922 SIPDIS NSC FOR CBARTON USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD STATE PASS USAID FOR DCHA/OTI E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/09/2014 TAGS: PGOV KDEM BEXP VE SUBJECT: U.S.-LED CONSORTIUM TO PROVIDE ELECTORAL AUTOMATION TO THE CNE Classified By: Abelardo A. Arias, Political Counselor, for Reasons 1.4( b) and (d). -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) The U.S.-based company Smartmatic (Boca Raton, Florida) is the managing partner of the SBC Consortium that recently won the contract to provide automated electoral equipment and services for Venezuela's August 1 regional elections (and a presidential referendum if necessary). The consortium will provide the National Electoral Council (CNE) with 20,000 touch-screen voting machines for 4,500 centers, and an encrypted telecommunications infrastructure for tallying the votes. Smartmatic claims the US$60 million payment for the new equipment will pay for itself in savings after three elections. Venezuelan electoral law calls for the automation of elections to the maximum extent possible. End Summary. -------------- CNE Sought New, Secure Electoral System -------------- ¶2. (U) Venezuelan electoral law requires elections to be automated when possible. The Spanish firm Indra had provided technical services for electoral processes since 2000, including maintenance of 7,600 optical reader machines purchased by the National Electoral Council (CNE) that year. The CNE, claiming budgetary shortfalls, had fallen behind in payments to Indra for the maintenance of the machines. Before leaving office in September 2003, the previous CNE board approved the extension of Indra's contract to provide services for the August 1, 2004, regional elections. ¶3. (C) The new CNE board annulled Indra's contract in September, citing the "onerous" costs of maintenance and out-of-date technology. CNE Director Jorge Rodriguez, head of the National Electoral Board, announced a new bidding process the autumn of 2003. Rodriguez criticized the previous system that left Indra in charge of the computer programs that tallies votes. Rodriguez argued that the CNE should own the technology, including software codes, involved in counting ballots. Based on these criteria, a CNE technical committee on February 16 selected the SBC Consortium led by Smartmatic. Rodriguez was also skeptical of the firms ES&S, which provided the software for the old machines. He reportedly believed that ES&S worked with the Central Intelligence Agency and therefore could not be trusted. -------------- U.S.-Led Consortium Will Provide Automation -------------- ¶4. (C) Representatives of the SBC Consortium gave a presentation to poloffs on March 9 on the electoral automation services they will provide to the National Electoral Council (CNE) for the August 1 elections for governors and mayors. SBC Consortium is comprised of the Smartmatic Corporation (of Boca Raton, Florida),CANTV (the Venezuelan telecommunications operator, partially-owned by Verizon),and Bista Software (a local Venezuelan firm). ¶5. (SBU) Smartmatic is managing the project and will provide the technology, equipment, and software. Started by Venezuelans, Smartmatic incorporated in the State of Delaware several years ago and has moved its headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida. It has an office in Mexico and maintains its research and development office (about 30 people) in Venezuela. This is the first time Smartmatic has tried to apply its secure network technology to an electoral process, and it has contracted a team of electoral experts to implement the project. ¶6. (SBU) Within the consortium, CANTV is to transport equipment to, and establish a network for, 4,500 electoral sites throughout Venezuela (which will cover 95 percent of the electorate),connecting them to municipal, regional, and national vote-tallying centers. Bista will design the Venezuela-specific tallying software. The contract between the CNE and the Consortium encompasses the purchase of US$60 million in software and equipment and US$30 million for electoral services such as logistics and consulting (about US$30 million in U.S. exports and services). An additional US$27 million will be added to the contract should the CNE hold a presidential recall referendum. -------------- A New Touch-Screen Design -------------- ¶7. (SBU) With this change, the CNE leaps to touch-screen technology from the optical ballot readers used for several previous elections with error rates of up to 15 percent. Smartmatic will import 20,000 voting machines from Italy, in essence, re-engineered lottery machines. Smaller than a cash register, each machines has a six-inch screen and an integrated printer that emits a receipt for each vote as well as the closing tally sheet. Each machine will be assigned to a specific electoral table (an electoral center has several tables according to size) and will only accept the maximum votes designated for that specific table. -------------- The "Secure" Voting Procedure -------------- ¶8. (SBU) To vote, the person will present his or her national identity card to election workers, and sign and place a fingerprint in the electoral register. The head of the electoral table then unlocks the voting machine by remote control. After the voter makes his or her choices by pressing the corresponding square on the membrane and then presses the touch-screen to lock in the votes. The machine prints a receipt record of the vote, which is assigned a random serial number. The voter deposits the receipt in a ballot box and collects his or her national identity card. At the end of the day, the machine produces a paper tally sheet that is signed by poll workers and returned with the paper receipts to the CNE. Once the tally sheet is produced, the machine transmits its data to the tallying center. ¶9. (SBU) Smartmatic representatives claim the process is totally error-free in that the voter no longer fills out the ballot by hand. Each vote is registered seven ways (five electronically, two manually),making fraud less likely. The machines contain fixed flash memory as well as removable memory cards. The machines work with special security paper bearing the CNE watermark. The use of random serial numbers, they assert, ensures privacy by making it impossible to match the voting results with its corresponding electoral register. The data transmission uses 128-bit encryption with public-private keys. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶10. (C) The Smartmatic system is impressive at first blush, though we wonder whether Venezuela's volatile electoral landscape provides the best venue for its premiere performance. CNE Director Jorge Rodriguez, who heads the National Electoral Board, pressed ahead with this project despite the crushing workload of the signature verification process for the presidential recall referendum. Putting this system on line now aids the GOV's strategy to use the regional elections to distract attention from the recall vote. SHAPIRO NNNN 2004CARACA00922 - CONFIDENTIAL