[link|http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?file=534518.html|This goes way beyond dangling chads]
Excerpt:
Evidence of foul play has surfaced. In the town of Valle de la
Pascua, where papers were counted at the initiative of those manning the
voting center, the Yes vote had been cut by more than 75 percent, and
the entire voting material was seized by the national guard shortly
after the difference was established.
Three machines in a voting center in the state of Bolivar that has
generally voted against Chavez all showed the same 133 votes for the Yes
option, and higher numbers for the No option. Two other machines
registered 126 Yes votes and much higher votes for the No. The
opposition alleges that these machines, which can both send and receive
information, were reprogrammed to start adjudicating all votes to the No
option after a given number of Yes votes has been registered.
Although the Organization of American States and the Carter Center have
called the election free and fair, their quick count justifying this
statement was also based only on the numbers provided by the voting
machines. The two organizations had brokered an agreement to examine, in
the presence of government and opposition representatives, a sample of
150 voting points chosen at random. A comparison of the results printed
out by these machines with the papers contained in the corresponding
boxes was to be concluded this week. But the opposition now wants all
machines and ballot boxes to be examined.
I say:
No word on who made those voting machines, but it appears that
[link|http://www.atmmarketplace.com/marketplace_storefronts_client.htm?i=16&article_id=13202&step=story|Diebold] does business in Venzuela.
[link|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/politics.world.html#20040819|Home link]