Smartmatic, the software developer used by Dominion Voting Systems (formerly Diebold) was being discussed at length by the Bush-era U.S. embassy in Venezuela.
"Venezuela's new automated voting system will make its premiere in the August 15 recall referendum against President Hugo Chavez. The consortium behind the untested system, led by the U.S. company Smartmatic...
The consortium has imported 16,000 of the 19,200 touch-screen machines that will be deployed to voting centers, and is installing the dedicated network throughout Venezuela to connect them. Critics have attacked nearly every aspect of the system including the reliability of the machines, the vulnerabilities to "backdoor" tampering, and the expedited manner in which the CNE granted the concession to Smartmatic. Consortium reps maintain that the system is highly auditable, dependable, and will have been fully tested before August 15. But as this is Smartmatic's first venture into electoral technology, we cannot rule out significant problems during the referendum due to unforeseen technical or organizational problems. End summary."