2016 Election not to use voting machines

The 2016 local elections in Brazil will use ballots rather than the usual electronic voting machines due to financial constraints. The government published this decision Monday (Nov. 30) saying a new block on government spending will render the Judiciary branch (which includes the Superior Electoral Court, or TSE, which runs elections) unable to use electronic voting machines after a further $450 million freeze on its budget.

The TSE said in a statement that more than $111 million will be frozen from the Electoral Courts' budget, “which prevents them from procuring devices and servicing of the required equipment for the 2016 election. The cut will mainly impact the purchase of electronic voting machines, for which a bidding is already underway and will result in a contract by the end of December, a committed expenditure of $52 million.”

Electronic voting machines have been used in Brazil since 2000. According to the TSE, delays or non-completion of the bidding process will cause “irreversible damage” to the Electoral Court, since the voting systems have to be deployed to the machines at the local electoral registration offices within a fixed deadline.

Translated by Mayra Borges