Brazil’s military clubs issue statement in defense of auditable ballot

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Monday, August 2, the Military, Naval and Aeronautics Clubs, made up of reserve military officers, jointly issued a statement advocating the “auditable vote” championed by president Jair Bolsonaro.

“The auditing of ballot boxes is not possible with the naked eye. It is an inscrutable black box. The inviolability of electronic ballot boxes, attested to by the TSE’s (Electoral Court) own technical team cannot be a dogma,” they said in a statement.

“The TSE systematically blocks system audit proposals requested by external teams, which can lead to the suspicion that it has something to hide. Why this exclusive ‘security in obscurity’? Why such segregation, if everyone, indistinctly, is entitled to the truth?”

The military further said that the cost of implementing printers and transporting the ballots would not be a justification for sidelining the issue. “The justification that, in light of the pandemic, spending R$3 billion (US$580 million) to implement electronic ballot boxes with auditable printed votes would be unacceptable does not hold, because the integrity and transparency of the electoral process – essential for a healthy democracy – is priceless.”

The text is signed by the institutions’ leaders, Fleet Admiral Luiz Fernando Palmer Fonseca, Division General Eduardo José Barbosa, and Brigadier Major Marco Antonio Carballo Perez.

In the note they also cite the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), a target of conflicts with the head of the Executive.

“The TSE, the system’s chief administrator, preaches absolute dependence on software, asserting that an increase in human interference would cause errors that would open loopholes for the judicialization of the electoral process. Obviously, no system is entirely safe from the wickedness of men. But the passive acceptance of electronic ballot box results would be more advisable, in order to evade valid challenges, in the best style of ‘Shut up, I know what’s best for you’? This is the true dictatorship.”

Superior Electoral Court

With President Jair Bolsonaro’s constant criticism of electronic ballot boxes, the TSE on Monday unanimously approved the opening of an administrative inquiry and the sending of a criminal notice to the Federal Supreme Court (STF) for the head of the Executive to be investigated for fake news.

Controversial statements

Throughout this year, President Jair Bolsonaro has made several statements challenging the holding of elections in 2022 unless printed ballots are introduced.

During a conversation with supporters at the Alvorada Palace last month, Bolsonaro stated that the “elections next year will be clean,” in reference to the printed ballot, “or we won’t have elections.”

The president also insulted Justice Luís Roberto Barroso, Presiding Judge of the TSE, whom he called an “imbecile,” and again raised the tone against what he referred to as “fraud” unless the current electoral system, with electronic ballot boxes, is changed to printed ballots.