Electoral Court: Vote counting is transparent, auditable, secure

The Superior Electoral Court in Brazil has bolstered the security and oversight of the electronic voting system as the 2026 elections approach. According to the court's Secretary of Information Technology, Júlio Valente, the voting process and result tabulation are designed to be decentralized and publicly verifiable.

A key feature of Brazil's electoral system is that vote counting starts at the polling station. After voting concludes, the electronic voting machines record the results and produce a ballot box report, showing the votes each candidate and party received. One copy of this report is posted at the polling station, while the data can be cross-checked against the results released by the Electoral Court later on.

The files containing the election results are taken from the voting machines and transmitted through encrypted channels. Before being incorporated into the tally, these files undergo checks to confirm if they were generated by the assigned electronic voting machine and if they bear the correct digital signature. Valente emphasized that this isn't just about collecting and adding up results; every step is verified.

Political parties, candidates, and oversight institutions can monitor various stages of the process. The electoral system currently provides numerous opportunities for monitoring and auditing. Biometrics also plays a crucial role in the electoral process, ensuring that only an identified voter can access the voting machine and cast a ballot. If biometric identification isn't feasible, a poll worker may authorize the vote while documenting the process.

In case of a recount, the voting machines and digital records of the votes are preserved and sealed after the election to allow for audits. For paper ballots, the implementation of the system was deemed unconstitutional by Brazil's Supreme Court. Additionally, the experiment conducted in 2002, which involved the use of printers, led to technical issues and a higher system failure rate.

Valente stressed that the involvement of political parties and institutions in the oversight of the electoral process is essential for bolstering public confidence in the electoral process. He noted that the Brazilian electoral process is one of the most secure, modern, and auditable in the world, highlighting that there have been no documented cases of fraud in the electronic voting system since its implementation in 1996.