If the voting machine company is small enough, a leftist government can afford one too:"[The Venezuelan] government purchased a 28 percent stake in Bizta, through a venture capital fund, in June 2003 -- just a few months before the company bid for the elections contract....
The Herald also reported that a top official in Venezuela's science ministry, Omar Montilla, joined Bizta's board of directors in December to represent the government's three million shares. Two months later, the National Electoral Council awarded Bizta and partners Smartmatic and CANTV the $91 million."