The director of the newspaper SuchWhich He spoke with the residents about the myths and chains of misinformation that circulate around the electoral process. Consulting reliable portals is one of the main recommendations he gave to the residents of this community so that they stay informed about what is happening in the country during the day.
Author: Kemberlyn Talero
At 5:00 pm some neighbors of the El Cigarral urbanization, in the El Hatillo municipality of Miranda state, began to gather around the ARI Móvil, the news truck of the Rebel Alliance Investigates (ARI), made up of The Whistle, RunRun.es and SuchWhichIt was Friday, July 19, just over a week before the presidential election, and the attendees, mainly senior citizens, exchanged some doubts that they hoped to clear up about this process.
With the weekly Entérate, from SuchWhichin their hands, about 20 neighbors waited patiently while the details were being finalized, and at 6:00 pm the activity began with the reading of the day’s news, to later give the floor to the director of the newspaper. SuchWhichVíctor Amaya, who was in charge of responding to the community’s concerns.
“I received a message that there is a red number behind the ID card. I would like to know what it means and if it is a double vote?” was the first question that came up in the conversation. It was asked by young Samuel Díaz, a resident of Los Naranjos, and referred to a fake news circulating on social media and messaging apps that links this number to a doubling of votes.
“That red number is an internal control number of Saime to print the ID cards,” Amaya clarified, who stressed that any number of seven or eight digits, at least up to 32 million, will correspond to the ID number of a person.
“ID, fingerprint and face”
Regarding the first doubt of the neighbors, Amaya recalled that more than an ID number is required to exercise the right to vote. “The ID number is required, but the machine also has to do the match“, he said. In this regard, he explained that the next step after the delivery of the identity card is the placement of the fingerprint in the fingerprint scanner, which must match the system record.
“In addition, the president of the table is looking at the face to confirm that it is the same person. There he has all the elements to confirm his identity,” he added. Only then can the machine unlock the ballot and continue with the voting process.
Likewise, he recalled that if for any reason he does not do matchan incident must be generated and the president of the table must open a code to unlock the machine. If this situation is repeated before eight voters, the code to unlock the machine is provided by an operational center of the National Electoral Council (CNE), located in San Martín.
“In 2021, this incident occurred in only 173 tables out of 30,000 in the country. That is, in 0.6% of the tables,” Amaya stressed.
Wearing a face mask is still not a requirement
Another of the residents’ doubts was related to the use of face masks as a requirement to exercise their right to vote. “This information has been circulating on social media,” warned one of the residents of El Cigarral.
In this regard, Amaya emphasized that so far no CNE authority has confirmed that this information is true. “This is not established in the manuals. So far it is misinformation,” he said.
He clarified that people who wish to go to the polling stations with face masks are not prevented from doing so, but insisted that it is not a requirement to vote. The director of SuchWhich He took the opportunity to remind voters that there are restrictions on entry related to the attire of voters: “You cannot enter in shorts, in a bathing suit, or in flip-flops. That is established,” he said.
Information verified during the election day
“What are the reliable means other than The Whistle, Runrun.es and SuchWhich“How often will you publish information about the process?” were some of the questions from neighbor Karely Arteaga. Amaya indicated that SuchWhich will send at least four bulletins via WhatsApp and Telegram with a summary of regional news.
He also recalled the app Noticias Sin Filtro, recently presented by the program VE Without Filter from the organization Conexión Segura y Libre, with which you can access a series of news from verified portals.
He also mentioned the live broadcast that will be done through the Youtube channel of The Whistlewhich will begin on Saturday morning as part of the Venezuela Vota operation, a joint effort with at least 50 journalists throughout the country and 10 abroad. “The idea is to have a broadcast that they can leave glued to their televisions and find out about things from media that are doing the real work.”
He recommended being wary of unknown media brands with no track record, as he indicated that in the last six months the creation of accounts on Instagram and X that pretend to be news accounts, but are actually fake accounts, has been detected.
“It’s not that everything there is a lie, it’s much more Machiavellian. I’ll give you four or five true news stories and the fifth one that isn’t true. You have to be careful,” he said.
To combat misinformation and dispel myths, Amaya also suggested the platforms Es Paja, Cazadores de Fake News and the Venezuelan Observatory of Fake News.
Internet connection
Amaya also denied that Cantv users will lose their internet connection on July 28. “That is not true,” he said. He explained that the CNE encrypted its network system so that the data packet sent from the electoral center to the counting room cannot be deciphered along the way.
He clarified that the network that Cantv uses to transmit CNE data is not fiber optic, but the usual network. He also stated that it is false that all internet connections in the country go through Cantv.
Although they are all regulated by Conatel, he explained that not all of them depend on the Cantv signal.
Managing emotions
As the minutes passed, the neighbors joined in the activity. This was the case of Mr. Antonio Pérez, who, aged 89 and with a cane in his hand, approached the ARI Mobile. He was attentive, carefully noting each of the newspaper director’s advice. SuchWhich for the verification of information. His main concern was related to the audit process at the voting tables.
The election schedule, and especially the closing of polling stations, was another concern expressed by residents. Amaya stressed that the earlier the polling stations close, the faster the counting will be done, but reminded that voting can take place throughout the day. “The regulations say that the polling stations must close at 6:00 pm unless there are voters in a coma,” he said.
Residents, however, insisted on the importance of going to the polling stations early in the morning. “This is not just any election,” said one resident of El Cigarral.
Managing expectations and hopes was Victor Amaya’s final suggestion, and avoiding being another link in the chain of misinformation. “In the case of elections, be careful about anticipating results,” he said to conclude the visit of the ARI Mobile, an initiative of the Rebel Alliance Investigates made up of The Whistle, SuchWhich and RunRun.es.
“This activity allows us to stay informed and updated on the voting process,” said resident Belinda León. At 7:00 pm, residents returned to their homes grateful and with new tools to overcome misinformation.
*Read also: ARI Móvil supported the recognition of Venezuelan journalism at the IPYS awards
Post Views: 397
