Brazil’s Senate President concedes possibility of printed ballots for 2022 elections

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Senate president Rodrigo Pacheco (DEM-MG), on Monday, June 14, accepted the possibility of printed votes in the 2022 elections, if technically feasible.

The measure has the support of a majority in a special Chamber committee and will advance to the full Chamber. President Jair Bolsonaro’s allies have joined other parties, such as the PDT, to create an auditable voting system in electronic ballot boxes starting with next year’s presidential race.

Pacheco made it clear that he trusts the current electoral system in Brazil, but admitted the possibility of approving the Proposed Constitutional Amendment (PEC) being processed in the Chamber to eliminate doubts about the reliability of electronic ballot boxes.

“If there are senators and deputies supporting this and if there is technical and operational feasibility for an implementation of this nature that provides greater reliability to the system for choosing candidates, it is perfectly possible for us to approve it.”

Last week, in a hearing in the Chamber, Superior Electoral Court (TSE) president Luís Roberto Barroso advocated the reliability of electronic ballot boxes and said that the printed vote would represent a “step backward.”

Pacheco said that the fact that no case of electoral fraud has ever come to light since the implementation of the electronic ballot box, in 1996, does not mean that they cannot occur.

“I don’t see and don’t believe in the vulnerability of the electoral system. I have confidence in Brazil’s Electoral Justice, in the transparency of the process through the electronic ballot box. But the fact that I don’t believe it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”

The proposal’s initiator, Bolsonaro has said that without the printed ballot, there will be no elections in Brazil next year. On Thursday, June 10, the head of the Planalto again advocated the proposal and criticized the TSE president. “What is this business of judicializing it? It has no place. If Congress passes the printed ballot, we will have elections with printed ballots, period. Each one of us must respect the Constitution and Congress.”

Being processed in the Chamber of Deputies, the PEC does not do away with the electronic ballot box, but includes an article in the Constitution that makes it obligatory to print physical voting receipts, which should be automatically deposited in an acrylic box attached to the equipment.

Voters will thus be able to check whether the paper receipt matches their vote, but will not be able to take the receipt with them. To be in force for the 2022 elections, the measure must be passed by the Chamber and Senate by October of this year.

Source: Estadão