On 16 December, 2012, over 17 million Venezuelans used Smartmatic’s state-of-the-art voting technology platform to choose their state governors and legislators.

Working with the country’s National Electoral Council (the CNE), we prepared and deployed the automated system, as well as offered a host of crucial services that helped guarantee another transparent and efficient election.

Scope

This election was 100% automated. That is, all polling stations offered biometric devices to authenticate voters, e-ballots so voters could view candidates, and voting machines so they could vote for them.

Practically prefect

And if the election was 100% automated, it was nearly 100% perfect too. In fact, 99.95% of the voting machines in the 12,784 poll centers performed flawlessly. That means only 18 machines failed out of a total of 36,220. We always supply back up machines in case of emergency but most polling locations feature more than one voting machine so voters can just use those. The voting process is so quick that the system can deal with large numbers of voters, without large lines building up. At 9:00 am, the CNE reported that more than 97% of the poll centers were open.

Uncontested results

Because of the multiple layers of security, the accuracy and the auditability of Smartmatic’s voting solution, Sunday’s election results were accepted and approved by all political parties involved in the election.

Zero discrepancies

In the closing audit conducted at the end of Election Day, more than 52% of the ballot boxes where the physical votes are stored were opened and these ballots were compared to the vote summaries printed and transmitted by the voting machine. This audit reconfirmed the accuracy of the results stored in the voting machine and transmitted to the tally center.

Four quick facts

• 36,220 voting machines (models SAES-3300, SAES-4000, SAES-4200 and SAES-4300) installed in 12,784 polling centers
• There were 17,421,946 active voters, according to the Electoral Registry
• The Venezuelan states with the highest numbers of voters, and therefore also with the most numerous polling centers and stations, were: Zulia, with 1,215 centers and 4,669 polling stations; Miranda, 1,040 centers and 3,936 polling stations; Lara, 990 centers and 2,550 polling stations
• Electors registered in the Capital District didn’t vote this time, as there is neither Governor nor a regional legislative council for it

Technology

Venezuela was the first country in the world to fully automate a national election. To achieve this we used a variety of tools, including voting hardware and software, as well as biometric registration hardware.

Hardware

Voting machines (SAES-4000 series)

• Latest-generation touchscreen voting machines, with extensions for e-ballots (to show the large choice of candidates) and compatible with the biometric authentication device
• 100% auditable. The key design feature here is an integrated printer, for vote vouchers, precinct counts, and voting logs
• Votes are encrypted with 256-bit symmetrical algorithms. They are also registered several times, using redundant storage
• “Unblock” button to activate the voting session
• Secure, unidirectional data transmission via a variety of possible networks (LAN, phone lines, CDMA and satellite)
• Accessibility module for visually-impaired voters
• External power backup system, functional for up to eight hours
• Tough, lightweight protective carry cases, made from ultra-durable, water-resistant material

Biometric activation of the voting session

• Each voting machine has a biometric authentication device used to activate voting sessions. Every voter must be authenticated through his/her fingerprint in order to ‘unlock’ the machine
• Color screen to display instructions and voter information, including the voter’s photograph
• Integrated fingerprint reader to capture the voter’s biometric information
• Support area to place the voter’s ID document
• Keypad with touch and auditory sensitivity
• LED lights to indicate the status of processes
• Buzzer to indicate the start and end of processes

VP-1500 E-ballot

• The voter can press upon the party’s logo, the candidate’s name or picture: whole areas, not small ovalsLarge, spacious ballot size and internal membranes
• LED indicators for a visual confirmation of the voter’s choice(s)

Software

Election Management System (EMS)

This software allowed us to define and configure the election using the data provided by the CNE regarding eligible posts, candidates and political parties. It generated the configuration files for each voting machine we deployed. And it contributed to the generation of reports and legal documents with the results of the system’s performance evaluation.

Real-Time Electoral Information System (REIS)

Displayed partial results and final election bulletins. REIS supports all categories of electoral formulas, from the simplest (referenda, for instance) to the most complex vote aggregation methods, to yield final results, including single-winner and multiple-winner, as well as majority rule and proportional representation methods.

Election-360

Software that monitored and managed the technicians and operators whose job it was to deploy the voting machines. It also supported real-time control of the opening, closure, transmission, and audit of the 36,220 polling booths – and the support incidents during Election Day.

Services

Audits and tests

In Venezuela, the voting system is always audited before, during and after each election. For this one, the electoral authorities had organized several evaluations of the software and hardware of the voting machines, as well as of the transmission and tallying of the votes. Technical representatives of all political parties participated in all these audits:

Audit toward the certification of the software in the voting machines (5-7 November)
During this source code audit, it was verified that the software installed in the voting machines was the correct one. It was also certified that the software registered, tallied and transmitted the votes correctly.

Audit toward the tallying software certification (28-30 November)
In this audit, political organisations checked the counting system, its components, the source code and the digital signature.

Audit to the biometric system (29 October-2 November)
During this audit, it was verified that there’s no relation between the fingerprint capture process and the sequence in which votes are registered, enforcing the constitutional mandate for the secrecy of the vote and the “one man, one vote” principle. This audit also included the modules that make up the voting system, and the generation of the application’s digital signature.

Audit of the priming of the voting machines (10 November – 10 December)
Representatives of all the political parties and CNE technicians verified that the voting machines were configured with the software code certified in the previous audit.

Audit of the voting infrastructure (3 & 4 December)
This audit checked the technological platform of the voting machines and its structure. A voting machine was disassembled in front of representatives of the political parties, so its components could be observed. Thus everyone could see that they were all needed for voting to take place, meaning there were no secondary or superfluous elements that might perform tasks unrelated to, or not required by the voting process.

Pre-dispatch audit (9 December)
Completely reformulated, this new mock run audit replicated the electoral process. This test was conducted a week before the elections with 1,400 voters that use a group of voting machines selected at random.

Post-voting audit (28 December)
Replay of the closing audit, where the representatives of the political parties verify the ballot boxes, counting once again the vouchers inside. These results are compared to those produced by the voting machine’s tallying software and are certified by the political parties.

Other audits and tests:
Full regional election audit, or “Audit for citizen verification” (16 December)