848: The Official Unofficial Record

2024/11/24

This American Life

Ira Glass

Ira Glass: 本期节目讲述了委内瑞拉总统选举的争议，以及反对派为验证选举结果而开展的民间选票统计行动。选举结果公布后，反对派指责政府操纵选举，并通过动员数万志愿者，收集并公布了大部分投票站的选票数据，显示反对派候选人获胜。这一行动在国际社会引发关注，也凸显了委内瑞拉政治局势的复杂性。 Ana Vanessa Herrero: 作为一名记者，我亲身经历了委内瑞拉选举委员会仅公布选举百分比结果，未公布具体票数的异常情况，这引发了我的震惊和不解。反对派随后公布的民间统计数据，更让我意识到选举的真实性问题。 600K计划组织者: 我们创建600K计划，是为了证明反对派赢得选举，而非仅仅赢得选举本身。这个计划的成功，依赖于数万志愿者的辛勤工作和精密的组织协调，以及选票上二维码技术的应用。 Maria: 我参与600K计划，是因为我相信反对派，并希望为我的孩子争取一个更好的国家。在选举日，我作为一名见证人，与政府人员进行了沟通和协商，并坚持法律程序，最终成功获取了选票数据。整个过程充满了挑战和压力，但我们最终完成了任务。 John Smith: This is a placeholder for John Smith's core argument. It should be at least 200 Chinese characters long and include indented paragraphs to improve readability. This is just an example, and the actual content should reflect the speaker's views from the transcript. Remember to use proper grammar and sentence structure. The argument should be a summary of the speaker's main points in the episode. This is important to ensure the quality of the final output. Jane Doe: This is a placeholder for Jane Doe's core argument. It should be at least 200 Chinese characters long and include indented paragraphs to improve readability. This is just an example, and the actual content should reflect the speaker's views from the transcript. Remember to use proper grammar and sentence structure. The argument should be a summary of the speaker's main points in the episode. This is important to ensure the quality of the final output.

Deep Dive

Key Insights

Why did the Venezuelan opposition create the 600K plan?

The 600K plan was created by the Venezuelan opposition to ensure they could prove and demonstrate their victory in the presidential election. They anticipated that simply winning the election would not be enough, given the government's history of manipulation and repression. The plan involved collecting paper copies of vote totals from most voting centers in the country to create a verifiable public record.

What was the role of the QR code on the ACTAs in the Venezuelan election?

The QR code on the ACTAs (voting tallies) contained all the results from the specific voting machine. The opposition created an app that scanned the QR code, sending the results to their national command. This allowed the opposition to quickly publish the election results on a website, making them accessible to the public in real time.

How did the Venezuelan government respond to the opposition's publication of election results?

The Venezuelan government, led by President Nicolás Maduro, dismissed the opposition's efforts as a 'coup' and did not publish the voting machine totals to back their claim of victory. Instead, they relied on force, detaining over 1,500 people, including opposition leaders, journalists, and human rights defenders, according to a Venezuelan human rights group.

What was the outcome of the Venezuelan election according to the opposition's data?

According to the opposition's data, the opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, won 7.3 million votes, while President Nicolás Maduro received 3.3 million votes. This represented a 2-to-1 victory for the opposition. Even if Maduro had won all the votes from the remaining 17% of ACTAs, he still could not have won the election.

Why did the Electoral Council in Venezuela fail to transmit the election results?

The Electoral Council in Venezuela claimed that the transmission of election results was interrupted due to a hack, but they provided no credible evidence to support this claim. This led to widespread suspicion and protests, as many believed the government was attempting to manipulate the results.

What was the significance of the ACTAs in the Venezuelan election?

The ACTAs were crucial in the Venezuelan election as they provided a verifiable record of vote totals from each voting machine. They were used by the opposition to prove their victory, as they contained unique identifiers tying them to specific voting centers and machines. The ACTAs were widely accepted as genuine and accurate by independent analysts and media outlets.

How did the Venezuelan opposition ensure the security of the ACTAs?

The Venezuelan opposition ensured the security of the ACTAs by using a relay system. Witnesses collected the ACTAs from voting machines and handed them off to others who scanned the QR codes and sent the data to the opposition's national command. The physical ACTAs were then taken to secret locations, scanned, and stored in boxes to preserve the evidence.

What was the reaction of Venezuelans to the government's announcement of the election results?

Venezuelans reacted with widespread disbelief and protests after the government announced that President Nicolás Maduro had won the election without providing specific vote totals. Many took to the streets demanding transparency and the release of the actual numbers, as they suspected the results were manipulated.

What role did international observers play in verifying the Venezuelan election results?

International observers, including The Washington Post and The Associated Press, analyzed the opposition's data and concluded that the ACTAs were genuine and accurate. Academics from Venezuela, Brazil, and the United States also verified the results, further confirming the opposition's claims of victory.

Why did the Venezuelan government detain people after the election?

The Venezuelan government detained over 1,500 people after the election, including opposition leaders, journalists, and human rights defenders, as part of a crackdown on dissent. The detentions were aimed at suppressing protests and silencing critics who questioned the legitimacy of the election results.

Chapters

This chapter recounts the extraordinary efforts of Venezuelan citizens to independently verify the results of their presidential election. Despite government attempts to suppress the count, they successfully compiled and published a comprehensive record contradicting the official outcome.

Venezuelan opposition created a parallel vote count (600K plan) to verify election results.
They collected paper copies of vote totals from most voting centers.
The opposition published the results online, showing a landslide victory for the opposition.
The government's official results were different, and they didn't provide vote totals to support their claim.

Shownotes Transcript

How do you count almost 12 million votes if you’re not the government? This week, we bring you the extraordinary story of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who created the only verifiable public record of votes in their presidential election — and other stories of people trying to correct the official record with their own versions.

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Prologue: Host Ira Glass sets us up for Nancy Updike’s insider account of the recent presidential election in Venezuela. The story is an incredible national drama that plays out in thousands of polling stations across the country, with regular people trying to ensure a fair vote count that everyone can agree on. (2 minutes)
Act One: Producer Nancy Updike tells the story of the people of Venezuela trying to prove who won their recent presidential election beyond a shadow of a doubt. (22 minutes)
Act Two: Host Ira Glass spent America’s presidential election in the swing state of Michigan, where he found very little dispute over the ballot count from Republican poll challengers in Detroit now that they are doing the counting themselves. (8 minutes)
Act Three: This story is about a creepy and dangerous creature that does all kinds of terrible things. It’s also about someone trying to set the record straight on those exact assumptions about this notorious creature. (9 minutes)

Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org)

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