Venezuela's National Electoral Council unveils new voting machine

Caracas, Oct 10 (IANS) Authorities from Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE) unveiled a new voting machine model that will be used in the country's upcoming December 6 parliamentary elections.The president of the CNE, Indira Alfonzo, explained during the unveiling on Friday that the machine "offers a simple system that is easy for the voter to experience", and that it also followed the necessary bio-safety protocols, reports Xinhua news agency.The rector of the CNE, Carlos Quintero, said that it is "a modern machine with essential technical elements" that can be adapted to the electronic voting system used in Venezuela, offering "security and integrity in the protection of information".Quintero added that the new voting machine was "designed in Venezuela by Venezuelan technicians" in order to "avoid dependence on providers", and includes new voting software that will "guarantee, above all, the secrecy of the vote"."The principle of one voter one vote is guaranteed. We changed the entire authentication structure to guarantee that there cannot be identity theft," he said.More than 20 million Venezuelans will be eligible to cast their ballots on December 6 to elect the 167 deputies of the National Assembly, who will hold office between 2021 and 2026.
--IANS ksk/