JOE Q. VOTER'S DECEMBER 3 EXPERIENCE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 003527

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SUBJECT: JOE Q. VOTER'S DECEMBER 3 EXPERIENCE

CARACAS 00003527 001.2 OF 002



1. (U) On December 3, approximately sixteen million
Venezuelans will be registered to vote for the Bolivarian
Republic of Venezuela's (BRV) next President. Using one of
approximately 33,000 voting machines at about one of 11,000
voting centers, the voters will go through a fairly
convoluted electronic process that in the end will either
re-elect Hugo Chavez to another six-year term or catapult
opposition candidate Manuel Rosales into Miraflores. The
following is a play-by-play of how the voting process is
designed to work on December 3.


2. (U) Polls are scheduled to open at 6:00am on December 3
in 23 states and Caracas. If this year is like past
elections, many polling stations will not be operating until
8:00am or 9:00am. Voters will arrive at their voting centers
and locate their specific voting tables by matching the last
two digits of their cedula (national identification) numbers
against voter registry listings posted at each center. In
eight states and the city of Caracas, voters will then be
required to approach a fingerprint machine where their
thumbprint will be electronically captured. Theoretically,
these devices are used to prevent multiple voting.
Anticipating some reluctance from voters, approximately 700
federal attorneys will be deployed in these states to handle
voters who refuse to submit to the electronic scanners or
deal with other irregularities. Press reports indicate that
those who do not cooperate will not be allowed to vote and
will be "escorted" to one of 214 tribunals in operation on
election day.


3. (U) The fingerprinting process complete, these voters,
like voters in all other states, will then be required to
approach their voting tables, where a polling station worker
will locate their names and corresponding biographic data in
the voter registry book for that table. Voters will sign by
their names and place an ink thumbprint next to their
signatures.


4. (U) The actual voting for President will be more
complicated than simply voting for Rosales or Chavez, or one
of about a dozen other minor candidates. Voters will have
three minutes to decipher a convoluted electronic ballot that
provides the voter with 86 options, corresponding to
different political parties. Voters will select one of these
86 political party emblems on the ballot, each with a small
photo of the presidential contender identified as that
party's flag-bearer, as well as the party's emblem. Once a
selection is made, the voter's preference will appear on a
video screen. If the image on the screen matches the voter's
preference, the voter will then touch the screen where it
says "vote," and that voter's ballot is electronically cast.
Alternatively, if the image on the screen does not match the
voter's preference, the voter will have the opportunity to
cancel that selection and select again. In the event the
three minutes lapse before the voter has had the opportunity
to complete the process, the voter can alert a poll worker
and receive three additional minutes to electronically cast a
ballot. Any voter who fails to complete the vote during the
additional three minutes will see his or her vote nullified.


5. (U) While the electronic ballots cast will represent the
official tally, transmitted after the entire voting process
at that polling center is complete for the day, in most cases
via the telephone company CANTV, from each voting center to
the CNE, the machines will also produce a paper receipt for
each voter, identifying that elector's selection. The voter,
upon leaving the voting machine, checks the receipt to see if
it matches his or her vote, and then will drop the paper
receipt in a "ballot box." At this point, however, the voter
will have no real recourse if the designation on the paper
"ballot" does not match the voter's preferred selection, and
indeed, the paper is legally not the ballot: only the
"electronic ballot" created in the voting booth is the legal
ballot. The poll workers, however, in conjunction with
political party observers upon completion of the voting
process will randomly select a number of ballot boxes
depending on the number of tables at each voting center to
manually count, hopefully reconciling with the electronically
cast votes (see para 7).


6. (U) Following the entire voting process, each voter will
have his/her little finger dipped in indelible ink to prevent
the voter from voting more than once. Polling stations are
scheduled to close at 4:00pm; however, they are instructed to
remain open as long as there are voters waiting in line to
cast their ballots.

CARACAS 00003527 002.2 OF 002




7. (U) An audit to be conducted at each polling center upon
termination of the entire voting process, as agreed to by the
CNE, should result in the counting of a minimum of 53% of the
paper receipts. Boxes are supposed to be chosen at random by
poll workers and party witnesses after the polls have closed
and the machines have printed their final tally sheets, in
accordance with the number of tables at each voting center.
Poll workers will count the receipts and compare them with
the total number of votes registered on the tally sheet.
This audit is not binding, and no clear procedures have been
delineated for challenging the results if the numbers do not
reconcile.

BROWNFIELD