Presidential Revocatory Referendum 2004
Venezuela

August 15, 2004 was a watershed in the history of Venezuela—a day that would change the course of the country and call the world community’s attention to what was occurring.  On the morning that the Presidential Revocatory Referendum took place, the citizens of Venezuela were given the opportunity to decide whether or not they wanted President Chavez to continue his presidency or step down.  The recall vote—which was overseen by the Carter Center and the Organization of American States—was defeated.

Smartmatic was one of several electoral technology providers that participated in the bidding—conducted by the Venezuelan National Electoral Commission (CNE)—to update the automated voting system. After evaluating all the proposals, the CNE chose the SBC Consortium, which, in its opinion, offered a technological platform that was secure, auditable and easy to update. It also provided the best value, logistics and operational quality.

The SBC Consortium was made up of Smartmatic, which was in charge of the voting technology; Bitza Software of Venezuela, responsible for the auditing processes; and CANTV, which ran the telecommunication infrastructure, logistics, equipment installation and technical personnel.