7 Facts That Make the Venezuelan Electoral System More Democratic Than in the US

In the United States, elections are held by each state and are run by the governing party of each state.
In Venezuela, elections are overseen by the National Electoral Council (CNE), an independent branch of state similar to the U.K. Electoral Commission. CNE members cannot have any link with political parties. Venezuela also invites regional and international observers, which confirm the electoral process is free and fair. In the last audit of the Venezuelan system, 198 international observers participated.

Unlike their Venezuelan counterparts, U.S. voters don't get a receipt that they then put into a ballot box, so there is no way to audit the vote to ensure that the electronic votes reported by the machines were really the votes made.
In Venezuela, automated voting has existed since the 2004 elections, with machines certified by the CNE—making Venezuela the first country in the world to hold an electronic election with a paper trail. In 2012, Venezuela was also the first country to carry out an election with biometric voter identification.

On the pretext of the fight against fraud, various U.S. states recently attempted to pass regressive policies on voting rights, in order to disenfranchise low-income voters, who generally vote more progressively or at least for the Democrats. In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which required states with a significant history of voter discrimination to be granted pre-clearance from the Department of Justice before making changes to voting regulations. After the Supreme Court's decision, many states started updating their voting policy.
The Venezuelan electoral authorities organize massive voter drives around the country and particularly in low-income communities to make sure that everyone acquires an ID card and will be eligible to vote. There are voting centers everywhere, including in indigenous communities. In 2014, about 14,000 ballot boxes were registered across the country, even in the poorest (and most populated) areas.

Voting on Tuesday in the United States, rather than Sunday, like in Venezuela and most countries in the world, also contributes to excluding low-income people, who are not always able to leave work and vote.

In Venezuela, not only are ex-prisoners entitled to vote, contrary to many U.S. states, but so too can current prisoners who have not yet been sentenced. Every prison is equipped with ballot boxes.

The ratio between people registered to people old enough to vote is much higher in Venezuela (over 99 percent) than in the United States (77 percent). In Venezuela, foreigners with 10 years of residency are also entitled to vote.

The voter turnout rate is much higher in Venezuela than in the United States, whether for parliamentary elections (66 in Venezuela vs. 42 percent in the United States in the last vote). As for presidential elections, the turnout rate is 80 vs. 67 percent respectively.