Our story begins last year when Sequoia was bought by a small software company, Smartmatic Corporation, a Venezuelan company. Of concern are some shady maneuverings involving the company and the Venezuelan government. The company was selected to be the machines during the Venezuelan 2004 election despite having no experience in such matters. What makes everyone suspicious is that they were awarded the job several months after it was given a bunch of money by a Government Agency. With the money it made on that election, the company was able to buy Sequoia.

Whether or not they have ties to Chavez is kind of hazy right now. The owners of Smartmatic deny it and have agreed to go under the Federal Review to prove it. That review is to see whether Chavez has any ties to the company and if he's using it to rig the election. That's considered meddling by foreign Governments and that is frowned upon by our Government, although he couldn't do any worse picking our leaders than we have lately.

Also of concern is that they were deemed as "totally hackable" in Pennsylvania.

Oh, and here's something funny-- they tested out some of those Diebold machines in Florida and all sorts of whacky things happened when people voted for someone.

In other words, nothing to see here, people, move along....