Venezuelan roulette.

Young Venezuelans seeking capital for high-tech start-ups can usually find supporters. But when those Venezuelans are supplying the voting machines for a hotly-contested national referendum--President Hugo Chavez faces a recall attempt this month--that means controversy. The devices will be provided by Smartmatic, a tiny Florida company headed by a pair of 30-year-old Venezuelans which have never before supplied an election. The software is to come from Bizta, also owned by the young techies. In January, a Venezuelan government official joined Bizta's board. A month later, Venezuela's elections office chose Bizta, Smartmatic and national phone company CANTV to provide voting machines, a US$58 million contract. Then, in June, The Miami Herald reported that a government-owned venture fund had invested $200,000 in Bizta. The Venezuelans swear their system is tamper-proof and point out that the voting machines will also print paper ballots for double checking vote totals. Soon after the newspaper report, however, Bizta said it would buy back the government-owned shares and remove the government representative from its board. Election watchers aren't comfortable. "If the government is disposed to change the results, it would have the tools to do so," says John Magdaleno, a political scientist with the polling firm Datanalisis in Caracas. Chavez's opponents might yet catch a break. Smartmatic's voting machines were originally manufactured by Italy's Olivetti for use as lottery terminals.