CEO of Vote-Counting Company Refused Entry into the U.S.
On October 14, 2005, Antonio Mujica, CEO of Smartmatic, was refused entry into the United States . His Visa was revoked by the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela .
Ten months ago, Smartmatic, a Venezuelan-owned company, purchased Sequoia Voting Systems, Inc. for $16 million ( U.S. ). Sequoia Voting Systems is one of the leading manufacturers of electronic voting systems purchased in the United States . Public access to the company ' s vote-counting software is prohibited by trade secret laws.
VotersUnite.Org's Information Manager, John Gideon said, The irony of this situation shows how irrational the administration of elections in the U.S. has become. While U.S. law allows this Venezuelan man to control the secret counting of Americans votes, the U.S. State Department doesn't consider him fit to enter the country, even temporarily.
The organization's Executive Director, Ellen Theisen, added, It's also ironic that when we take vote-counting to Iraq, we take it in the form of paper ballots deposited into clear plastic ballot boxes, but in our own country, vote-counting is in the form of electronic ballots and secret software controlled by a man our government has declared ineligible to set foot in the country.
John Gideon
Information Manager
www.votersunite.org and www.votetrustusa.org
See (http://www.vcrisis.com/index.php?content=letters/200510160629)