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Venezuelan Interest In U.S. Voting Software

Posted by kdawson on Sun Oct 29, 2006 02:29 PM
from the just-what-we-needed dept.
Government Security Politics
A number of readers wrote in about a U.S. federal investigation into the Venezulean ownership of Sequoia Voting Systems, which makes voting machines used in 17 states and the District of Columbia. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States wonders whether the anti-U.S. government of Hugo Chávez could be trying to influence the U.S. midterm elections. From the article: "Government officials familiar with the Smartmatic inquiry said they doubted that even if the Chávez government was some kind of secret partner in the company, it would try to influence elections in the United States. But some of them speculated that the purchase of Sequoia could help Smartmatic sell its products in Latin America and other developing countries, where safeguards against fraud are weaker."
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  • Ridiculous (Score:5, Funny)

    by Joey7F (307495) on Sunday October 29 2006, @02:33PM (#16634318) Homepage Journal
    I want people trying to influence this election unfairly to be Americans

    • I want people trying to influence this election unfairly to be Americans

      Unfortunately, Diebold disagrees with you. They prefer the run this election to the tune of "may the best cracker win". I mean, the US government has such an world-reaching influence that it makes sense to have a global election process, right? That's probably why they tabulate election results on unsecured Windows PCs and why the sell voting machines with less integrity and security than an XBox.

    • Personally, I find it hilarious and ironic. The USA played a part [guardian.co.uk] in the attempted Venezulean coup in 2002. The documentary The Revolution Will Not Be Televised [imdb.com] covers it rather well and is well worth a viewing.

      Then we have regime change in Iraq! Frankly, I find the paranoid fear that another country is attempting influence US elections quite worrysome. It's almost like the US has developed some sort of collective paranoid psychosis.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by senatorpjt (709879)
        Yeah, it's strange that once one of the voting-machine companies might be controlled by a leftist, suddenly they can't be trusted.

          • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

            by dangitman (862676)
            He's talking about the Republicans suddenly getting interested in voting fraud when leftists might be involved in the machines (Venezuela), but ignoring the problem when their own right-wing stooges are involved (Diebold). You may want to try reading comprehension before you get outraged.

  • Oh fucking please (Score:4, Insightful)

    by theolein (316044) on Sunday October 29 2006, @02:34PM (#16634332) Journal
    Chavez might be a populist loudmouth fucker, but he is pretty open about what he wants and what his intentions are, not like the current crop of corrupt, deceiptful pigs running the USA, who resort to vague accusations like this one in times of elections because they finally realised that they fucked up across the board and that people really hate them for it.
    • Exactly.

      Let's investigate the only E-Vote vendor who is NOT under control of our own thugs.

    • Re:Oh fucking please (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Sique (173459) on Sunday October 29 2006, @02:50PM (#16634532) Homepage
      But if anything, Hugo Chavez would actually be interested in keeping the current administration in power. It keeps the oil prices high (good for Hugo Chavez), it is so incompetent, that any uprising it tries to initiate against Hugo Chavez is easily defeated (the last one was gone after 48 hrs), and it gives him enough populist argumentation to use any means to stay in power and also suppress any other uprising.

      I also think that al-Qaida would vote G.W.Bush: Never ever have the recruiting possibilities have be better, never ever have the arguments of al-Qaida being existant better. Never ever have the means and possibilities of getting money from the Arab world being better due to high income on oil and an general feeling of being waged an undeclared war against from the U.S..

      Never ever have allies of the U.S. being more alienated from the U.S., making "divide et impera" the most easiest ever. Never ever was the danger of the own population being in favor of U.S. so minimal. The U.S. was actually managing to get the same people of Iran, who were burning candles on the streets in condolence to the victims of 9/11 and thus expressing their sympathy for the U.S., now being nearly unified against the same U.S..

      If I was the U.S. administration, I would recommend to hush up any possible ties between Sequoia voting machines and Venezuela.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by h4rm0ny (722443)

        You've ignored the possibility that Chavez actually despises the actions of the Bush regime and genuinely would like to see a better US foreign policy.

        Not everyone is solely interested in power.
        • "You've ignored the possibility that Chavez actually despises the actions of the Bush regime and genuinely would like to see a better US foreign policy."

          Actually, he wants to "bury the US". I saw him say this in a live speech. What was really surprising was that he neglected to bang on the podium with his shoe while saying it.
        • You've ignored the possibility that Chavez actually despises the actions of the Bush regime and genuinely would like to see a better US foreign policy.

          Not everyone is solely interested in power. Yes, I would ignore that possibility.

      • Re:Oh fucking please (Score:5, Insightful)

        by doom (14564) <doom@kzsu.stanford.edu> on Monday October 30 2006, @12:51AM (#16638871) Homepage Journal
        Anonymous wrote:
        Bullshit! If you can read Spanish, I suggest you read his statements about what is going on in his country. Read how he has increased security (increased murders to 10,000 per year in a country of 25 million), provided money and hospitals for the poor (while increasing the poverty rate even while reaping record oil profits), improved the economy (which has >10% inflation and small growth even while reaping record oil profits), and has increased personal freedom (by introducing communist style price controls and jailing reporters).

        Wow... and all of those accusations have occured in the local Venezuelan press? That's pretty cool, considering we've got US pundits trying to claim that Chavez is censoring the press [washingtonpost.com].

        I don't know much about it myself, but one of those silly leftist writers, Tariq Ali [democracynow.org], is going around saying things like this about Chavez:

        And what people do not seem to understand, within the establishment in the United States and its state media hacks, is that you can have political leaders today in parts of the world who are extremely popular because they give the people what they promised to give them. And politics elsewhere has become so isolated and alienating from the population that people just don't expect this anymore. And I think this is what explains the popularity of Chavez. And, of course, using oil money to push through mega-spending on health, on education, on building homes for the poor, free universities for the poor, this is not permitted in this world. He does it, and at the same time he challenges U.S. foreign policy in a very sharp way.

  • What? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    ..where safeguards against fraud are weaker."

    Do they run open source software or something?

  • Hmm (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 29 2006, @02:36PM (#16634364)
    "where safeguards against fraud are weaker"

    Is that supposed to be a joke?

  • Only in America (Score:5, Insightful)

    by phleb3 (954280) on Sunday October 29 2006, @02:37PM (#16634368)
    I think that the real problem is that Venezuela is in the doghouse of Bush and Company. Diebold which is held by a right wing company is not subjected to this scrutiny.
    • > Diebold which is held by a right wing company is not subjected to this scrutiny.

      Our country has a long history of the FBI keeping an eye on people for no reason other than liberal views, while jumping in bed with the most extreme sort of right-wingers in South America.

    • My first thought was exactly this - investigate machines made by that leftist radical country Venezuela, but don't even think about critizing those made by Diebold.

      My second thought was way more cynical - could this be a pre-election manoeuvre designed to set the stage for investigating/recount/tossing out votes on suspect machines? Being sure, of course, to focus on those machines that voted Democrat. (OK, so the machines don't themselves vote. Or do they? Since we often can't see the the code or eve

      • Re:Only in America (Score:4, Informative)

        by dangitman (862676) on Sunday October 29 2006, @04:26PM (#16635484)
        I'm not sure why you need a cite for that. It's very widely known:

        Walden "Wally" O'Dell, the chairman of the board and chief executive of Diebold. For years, O'Dell has given generously to Republican candidates. Last September, he held a packed $1,000-per-head GOP fundraiser at his 10,800-square-foot mansion. He has been feted as a guest at President Bush's Texas ranch, joining a cadre of "Pioneers and Rangers" who have pledged to raise more than $100,000 for the Bush reelection campaign. Most memorably, O'Dell last fall penned a letter pledging his commitment "to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the President."

        http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/20 04/03/03_200.html

        Many, many more details at that link.

  • Chavez isn't a saint, but Bush sure is the devil.. (Score:5, Informative)

    by lixee (863589) on Sunday October 29 2006, @02:37PM (#16634372)
    Before you start bashing Chavez, please take the time to watch "The revolution will not be televised". It's an award winning documentary by an Irish crew who happened to be in Caracas when the coup against Chavez happened back in 2002.

    Knowledge is the main weapon in this day and age!
    • What the fuck is the point of calling Bush the Devil? First of all, one of the strongest ideas in the US constitution is the separation of church and state. It is fucking CENTRAL. So why do people insist on tying it back in? I mean, if you can't handle living in a country where the government fundamentally keeps its distance from religion (for damned good reasons) then just, please, leave.

      Bush is not the Devil, even if the Devil were to exist other than as an idea.

      Bush is just a stupid politician who pa
      • You're right he isn't inherently evil...he is worse! Bush thinks he is doing his gods bidding!
        • Here let me fix that comment for you:

          You're right he isn't inherently evil...he is worse! Any religious man or woman thinks he or she is doing his or her gods bidding!

          • I do miss the concept of humility in religion. These days it seems that every churchgoer is The Messiah and is eager to tell you exactly how to fix all the problems you didn't know you had.
      • Bush sponsored a coup against Chavez. It was a stupid thing to do. What was the point of the coup? They were just pissed off at him were were trying to intimidate his neighbours.

        Chavez gets to call Bush anything he wants when addressing the UN general assembly. Its a small price you have to pay for sponsoring a coup against a democratic government. Many feel that Bush should be punished properly.
        • "Chavez gets to call Bush anything he wants when addressing the UN general assembly. Its a small price you have to pay for sponsoring a coup against a democratic government."

          Chavez, as a dictator, has nothing to do with "democratic government". There's certainly nothing like democracy in Venezuela under Chavez, where it is now an explicit crime [washingtonpost.com] criticize the dictator.
      • Oddly enough, Bush seems to want to tie Church and State back together, with his 'faith based initiatives', his Justice Department giving an amicus brief in support of displays of the 10 commandments in courthouses ( http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&s i d=aVq7CjVw_3Zc&refer=us [bloomberg.com] ), etc. So, given the religious overtones of Bush and his supporters, I can understand why people use the same tones to attack him.
        • Bush is a religious man. It is hardly a surprise to me that he would attempt to bring church and state together. However, it is my deepest hope that he does not succeed.

          One of the main reasons I do not like it when people call Bush the Devil is that is does not convey any description of the negativity within the statement. It is a blanket statement without any depth. I prefer more qualitative statements involving reasonable criticisms or complaints than pie-in-the-sky religious labels that get nobody an

      • There is the matter of lying to the World in his efforts to start the war in the first place. Even if one is magnanimous enough to say it was a genuine mistake to invade, rather than pointing at the huge ulterior motives for it, the action of deceit can hardly be called one. It was deliberate and unconscienable.
        • I am not arguing against anything but the stupidity of using religious labels to define someone based on their mistakes.

          That is all.

          Thank you.

          TLF
    • Chavez ownz all the oil man! All of it!, he has the US by the BALLS! He has SO much oil he is GIVING it away!

      Well... that is so long he can stand the sulpur smell I guess. tee-hee...

      Seriously though, Chavez is just your average guy who grew up in the slums and rising to power fighting for the little guy/gal.

      Clearly Bush&Cheney would like nothing better than to introduce the harmless little fella to some friendly water boarding.

    • I would thoroughly recommend this documentory/movie. It is definitely not an anti-Bush propaganda film produced by the Democrats like many (who probably haven't seen it) say it is (it was produced by Spanish reporters for a start) and I would probably take some bits of the movie "with a pinch of salt", but they do have some amazing footage of a very odd event (or non-event as most have never heard of it) in modern history. If you like hearing about conspiracy theories than this is one, albeit focused on dif
    • "Before you start bashing Chavez, please take the time to watch"

      I watched this video. It certainly did not make me favor the dictator. It was sort of heartbreaking that the coup almost set Venezuela on a road to decency, but the dictator won out in the end. Now with rigged elections and the laws Chavez passed (including one that requires a long jail term for criticizing the dictator), Latin America is sure to enjoy a few decades of bloodshed, war, and oppression from Venezuela's expansionist "President f

      • I watched this video. It certainly did not make me favor the dictator.

        How can he be considered a dictator? He got it to power democratically after huge support from the countries poor. This same support played a part in the counter-revolution to stop the undemocratic assention of a military government. What's your angle here? Have you actually seen the documentary? I honestly don't know how anyone could come to your conclusions after watching it. And yes, I have read of this coup before seeing the movie a

  • What better antidote to Diebold could there be?

    "Better" meaning practical and effective, not necessarily morally right.

  • Hold on a second (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Black Parrot (19622) on Sunday October 29 2006, @02:41PM (#16634420)
    Let's take care of the known threats to fair elections at home before we get too wrapped up in hypothetical foreign conspiracies.

    Though a move to open systems would help with either.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by RealGrouchy (943109)
      Let's take care of the known threats to fair elections at home before we get too wrapped up in hypothetical foreign conspiracies.

      Hell, if it takes Chavez to get the US back to pen-and-paper ballots, then all the better.

      Is there some way we can get Kim Jong-Il to invest in Diebold?

      - RG>

  • What about investigating Diebold? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by angryflute (206793) on Sunday October 29 2006, @02:42PM (#16634430) Homepage
    Why won't the U.S. government investigate Diebold as well?

  • Poster child of FUD (Score:5, Interesting)

    by orzetto (545509) on Sunday October 29 2006, @02:43PM (#16634436)

    A GOP risking to lose an election, a less popular than ever PotUS, a largely announced electoral defeat: so let's try to blame the machines, and while we're at it Chávez too. It only surprises me they did not mention the company's CEO is an alias used by Osama Bin Laden or some other scarecrow.

    The article also mentions (in the second page) the controversy about Chávez' re-election's, but fail to mention that election's result was UN-certified (unlike someone else's) and the guy in charge of UN controls was Jimmy Carter, not Fidel Castro.

    • Re your stat, actually the number of fatalities on America's highways is about 40k [dot.gov]. Drunk driving alone is involved with 17k a year [alcoholalert.com]

      To put it into perspective, since 9/11, about 30x as many people died because of drunk drivers than died in the attacks. Don't get me wrong, the attacks were brutal and I'm sure the guys who were piloting the planes didn't reach the heaven they thought they were reaching, but as a nation we are overreacting.....
  • Nah, he just wants to fix his own elections just like the Republicans do. Damn you diebold!

  • Flame Bait (Score:4, Funny)

    by AlgUSF (238240) on Sunday October 29 2006, @02:44PM (#16634460) Homepage
    I want to mod this article flame bait. Left-wing koolaid drinkers vs. right-wing koolaid drinkers. :-)
  • I think Nelson phrased it best..

    "Hah-hah!"

    I am of course referring to Nelson off of The Simpsons, not the the admiral, or the guy from South Africa..
  • Somewhat amusing that after some Democratic partisans carped about electronic voting machines stealing elections for the GOP, now there's a federal investigation into one of the electronic voting machine companies for its ties to leftist dictator Hugo Chavez.
  • Yeah, it's gotta be the foreigners trying to fix our elections... couldn't be any native companies.

    Personally, I'd rather have them doing it than /our/ politicians.

    Fucking xenophobic, racist bastards.
    • Well, maybe if Hugo Chavez is unanimously elected President of the US in a week and a half despite the extreme handicaps of not being on the ballot and not actually having an election for President at all on the ballot this year, someone might actually get the idea that some sort of voter-verified paper trail for elections is a good idea.

      We need some really obvious fraud by anti-American foreigners to wake people up. Sadly, all we're going to get is both sides of Americans accusing each other of fraud, w

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