MR. MORALES: Thank you for the opportunity to testify today in this
subcommittee.

My name is Fernando Morales. I was born in Monterrey, Mexico. I have
been an entrepreneur inventor since I obtained my bachelors degree in
computer science in 1972. During that time, I have been president of a
number of companies, which I myself founded. More than twenty years ago,
I served as campaign manager for the opposition party in Mexico and
learned firsthand about the corruption within the Mexican electoral
system that kept the government party in power, because they directly
controlled the voting process, of course. Back in 1987, I founded a
Delaware corporation to persuade the Federal Communications Commission
to allocate spectrum for a service that I invented. In 1992, the FCC
finally allocated the spectrum. That same year, I filed a petition for
an Immigrant Alien Entrepreneur visa and became a U.S. Citizen in
November of 1999.

As a result of the 2000 Florida election fiasco, I realized that our
electoral system is not perfect and that there was room for improvement.
This realization motivated me to invent a new paradigm, which would
allow all citizens the ability to vote from anywhere with security,
legitimacy, and in total secrecy (including those with disabilities).
The U.S. Patent Office has granted me more than a dozen patents, the
last one being this new paradigm for the election process, which is not
only better in every aspect than any system in use today, but can also
save more than 2.5 billion American taxpayer dollars.

The new paradigm is based on electronic smart card technology. This
widely-accepted technology could provide each citizen with a foolproof
ballot which is not only reusable for the life of the voter, but also
contains encrypted voter information, as well as public and secure
software which employs the use of secret codes for all its functions to
advance the electoral process to the highest standards of excellence.

By using one smart card per voter with a universal serial buss
interface, which is broadly available in today\'s marketplace, the
estimated cost will be less than five dollars per unit. As a result,
five hundred million dollars will serve as sufficient funding for the
entire nation. Consequently, full implementation of the smart ballot
system costs 80 percent less than the overall cost of replacing obsolete
voting machines currently in use across the nation. Without a doubt,
once a new paradigm shows us a simpler, less expensive, more secure,
reliable way to vote, there is no reason to keep employing obsolete ways
of conducting elections.

In closing, I would like to express once again my gratitude to the TDGC
for inviting a modest, foreign-born inventor as myself to testify on
this important issue. All of you must recognize that the use of one
smart ballot per voter is by far the best practice for our American
democracy, and in so doing, must over overlook my broken English. The
system described herein is protected by U. S. Patent #6,607,137, which
is now available to the public and may be acquired by state and local
governments for a few pennies per voter, while saving the equivalent of
\$25 per voter.

For more information, please visit www.thesmartballot.com.

Thank you, very much.