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PP RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV
DE RUEHCV #3527/01 3352237
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 012237Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY CARACAS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7180
INFO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0654
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL PRIORITY
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RUEHWH/WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 003527 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
DEPT PASS TO AID/OTI RPORTER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM VE
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