Ana Vanessa Herrero

There's a fervor in the way Maria describes her own vigilance that day that might sound familiar to Americans, like in other countries' Stop the Steal movement, which also mobilized voters around the country to go to their voting center on Election Day with a copy of local election laws and their suspicion and their willingness to speak up. Venezuela's election was like that. And it wasn't.

At all. The politics in Venezuela don't really map onto a sort of, well, who are the Republicans and who are the Democrats grid. The political party in power has the word socialist in its name, but mainly it's an authoritarian government. The opposition is a coalition that ranges in economic ideas from center-left to Margaret Thatcher. And it hasn't been in power for 25 years.

At all. The politics in Venezuela don't really map onto a sort of, well, who are the Republicans and who are the Democrats grid. The political party in power has the word socialist in its name, but mainly it's an authoritarian government. The opposition is a coalition that ranges in economic ideas from center-left to Margaret Thatcher. And it hasn't been in power for 25 years.

Venezuela's voting system is very different from ours. In the United States, each state has different rules and procedures for voting, different days and hours people are allowed to vote, different timelines for counting votes, different officials who certify results. In Venezuela, it's one system across the whole country.

Venezuela's voting system is very different from ours. In the United States, each state has different rules and procedures for voting, different days and hours people are allowed to vote, different timelines for counting votes, different officials who certify results. In Venezuela, it's one system across the whole country.

And one of the most important things they have is that for every vote, the voting machine produces a paper copy of the vote that the voter takes in hand and puts in a box at the voting center. And at the end of the day, about 30% of those boxes are randomly opened for a hand count of the paper ballots as a cross-check on the machine's count.

And one of the most important things they have is that for every vote, the voting machine produces a paper copy of the vote that the voter takes in hand and puts in a box at the voting center. And at the end of the day, about 30% of those boxes are randomly opened for a hand count of the paper ballots as a cross-check on the machine's count.

Witnesses watch this hand count, often not just the accredited witnesses. By law, anyone is allowed to watch the hand count in their voting center, as long as there's enough room. And then at the end of the day, there's the akta, a summary of vote totals from the entire day. Actas look the same all over the country.

Witnesses watch this hand count, often not just the accredited witnesses. By law, anyone is allowed to watch the hand count in their voting center, as long as there's enough room. And then at the end of the day, there's the akta, a summary of vote totals from the entire day. Actas look the same all over the country.

They are a recognizable and agreed-upon measure of voting results in Venezuela, each one with a unique identifier tying it to a specific voting center and voting machine. So Maria was at the voting center to keep an eye on the process, to complain, to make a fuss if she thought something was unfair or if the process was stalling out.

They are a recognizable and agreed-upon measure of voting results in Venezuela, each one with a unique identifier tying it to a specific voting center and voting machine. So Maria was at the voting center to keep an eye on the process, to complain, to make a fuss if she thought something was unfair or if the process was stalling out.

But at the end of the voting day, if the law was followed, she would walk out not just with a bunch of stories about what looked fishy, but with the actual results in her hand, the acta. The ACTA isn't about suspicions and observations and complaints. It doesn't raise questions about who won. It answers them.

But at the end of the voting day, if the law was followed, she would walk out not just with a bunch of stories about what looked fishy, but with the actual results in her hand, the acta. The ACTA isn't about suspicions and observations and complaints. It doesn't raise questions about who won. It answers them.

The last hurdle of the day came after voting closed. Maria calls the character in this part the bureaucrat, a woman from the electoral council who stepped in to deal with the voting machines. The machines finalize the numbers and transmit them to the electoral council.

The last hurdle of the day came after voting closed. Maria calls the character in this part the bureaucrat, a woman from the electoral council who stepped in to deal with the voting machines. The machines finalize the numbers and transmit them to the electoral council.

The data are encrypted and sent through a dedicated wireless phone line that is just for the voting data and is only accessible through the voting machines.

The data are encrypted and sent through a dedicated wireless phone line that is just for the voting data and is only accessible through the voting machines.

The Electoral Council later blamed the interrupted transmission of voting results on a hack, the one they never provided credible evidence for. Maria, in her voting center, was watching the transmission problems in real time, standing next to the bureaucrat at the voting machine.

The Electoral Council later blamed the interrupted transmission of voting results on a hack, the one they never provided credible evidence for. Maria, in her voting center, was watching the transmission problems in real time, standing next to the bureaucrat at the voting machine.

Maria said she couldn't get her copy of the ACTA until the machine transmitted the results. So this problem with the machine, this breakdown in transmission, led to a sort of slapstick routine inside her voting center.