Black Lives Matter founder Opal Tometi was selected as an observer for Venezuela’s Smartmatic-conducted 2015 election on behalf of an organization that played a critical role in the country’s adoption of Smartmatic systems, The National Pulse can reveal.
Tometi observed on behalf of the Consejo Nacional Electoral (National Electoral Council), helping oversee the country’s parliamentary elections in 2015.
Doing my duty as a global citizen and serving as an election observer for the national Venezuelan elections. pic.twitter.com/VbryU74jUM
— Opal Tometi 🇳🇬🇺🇸 (@opalayo) December 3, 2015
The Venezuela election was one of many conducted with Smartmatic machines, as the country has depended on the voting company for over a decade despite errors and tampered results.
In the Tometi-observed election, Smartmatic boasted involvement with virtually every aspect of the election, noting “our end-to-end solution automated every step of the process, from voter authentication, vote casting and results publication.”
“Before, during and after the election, technicians from the electoral authority and political parties conducted thorough audits and tests to validate the proper operation of the system,” the company’s 2015 election summary reported.
Great day observing 6 polling sites in Venezuela. calm & seamless process. it was beautiful 2 see everyday ppl engaged throughout the day.
— Opal Tometi 🇳🇬🇺🇸 (@opalayo) December 6, 2015
Tweets from Tometi appear to corroborate her involvement in the vote authentication process, noting how she “observed polling sites” and “witnessed [the] citizen verification process.”
Of the 13 audits conducted by Smartmatic, at least one involved the CNE, the “citizen verification, phase II,” where “technicians from the NEC and the political parties verified that the choices registered in the printed voting vouchers matched the statements of the vote and the data held in the National Tallying Centre.”
Looking fwd to witnessing citizen verification process of #Venezuela vote. pic.twitter.com/kJOLfOwEJY
— Opal Tometi 🇳🇬🇺🇸 (@opalayo) December 6, 2015
Smartmatic used quotes from CNE’s chief rector to hype the company in its promotional material:
And according to Smartmatic press releases, the CNE was responsible for inking deals to acquire the company’s voting machines:
The Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE) signed a contract with the SBC Consortium for the acquisition of 20.000 voting machines, manufactured by the Italian firm Olivetti Tecnost, according to Smartmatic’s specifications and configuration. The service agreement includes the support and maintenance services, plus a one year guaranty for all machines. The voting machines are expected to start arriving to Venezuela in approximately two weeks, term established in view of the packaging and delivery times.
Other articles, such as “CNE and Smartmatic Signed Service and New Machine Purchase Contracts,” noted that the CNE “signed two contracts with Smartmatic,” but now reroute users to an error page proclaiming “page not found.”
