LULA IS ELECTED FOR THE 4TH TIME

For the gringo (affectionate) comrades, I’ll be doing a few comments here, kinda like and AMA, kinda explaining a few things, about the election here in Brazil.

I might set up an FAQ, a glossary, a few basics of voting in Brazil and such. I’m trying to bring some international solidarity.

And for those who want to stare at a “it’s always the same map”, here: Voting abroad - Results. This site is from a big media outlet, they have a nice map. If you want the official government website, here: Supreme Electoral Court - Results.

Let’s get desperate have some fun together!

FAQ

How Brazilians vote?

Badly, against their own interests. I’m just kidding. Voters are assigned a polling station that may change due to some circumstances. In ye olden times, voters would take their voting document (Título de eleitor, or voter’s entitlement(?)), but today, one can vote with their CPF (a SSN, but better) alone. Usually, they vote in a public school close to where they live. There, they have a section number, which translates to a room. They go there, their documents are checked and they are able to vote using the voting machine. It’s usually a quite quick process.

Voting machines?

Although I’m in IT, I don’t know a lot about them. My uni professors know, though. They even audit them from time to time. I do trust them. If you wanna play around with (a virtual) one, here: Official Brazilian Voting Machine Simulator. It plays the iconic sounds, helps you make a santinho (a little cheat sheet).

I saw people using numbers on their votes. What’s that all about?

To cast a vote, you must dial a number on the voting machine. So, if a candidate is from the XYZ party, and their party’s number is 67, they dial 67, go for the green button and that’s it. The legislative branch has a lot of candidates, some from the same party, so they have longer numbers. Using the same party from the example, two candidates might have a 67123 and 67001 as their numbers. You may cast a 67 for the whole party. I don’t remember the math, though.

What’s getting decided?

Country-wide, president. In a few states, the governor too. People have their eye on who’s going to sit at the most important chair for 4(+?) years. The two candidates are Lula (PT - Partido dos Trabalhadores, Worker’s Party) and Flávio Bolsonaro (PL - Partido Liberal, Liberal Party). Their respective numbers are 13 and 22.

How long can people vote?

The international ballots work on their respective countries’ timezone. Domestic voters start voting at 08h00 BST (Brasília Standard Time, UTC-3), ending at 17h00 (5PM). In Brazil, there are four timezones: Fernando de Noronha, at UTC-2, most of the country (population) at UTC-3, almost a half of the country (by area) in UTC-4, and the last, but not least, Acre, at UTC-5. We don’t have daylight savings anymore, so the math is easier.

How long until we know who won?

When the clock strikes 17h00, no voters can enter. If there’s no line, the election officials declare a section closed, the machine is sealed and the votes are transmitted with their integrity assured. They print the report too. Take a look at the website way up from the Electoral Court. Last year, Lula was declared winner at 20h00 (8PM), BST.

What’s at stake?

A lot, really. This is quite complex, but for now, in a tweet, I’d say that although Lula is not the best candidate, I’d happily vote for him instead of Bolsonaro. Lula is old, represents the limits of the social democrats, while his opponent is a mobster, in the most literal sense of the word. To understand what this is, look at the glossary. If Bolsonaro win, we don’t really know what might happen. We have a general idea that most of the worker’s rights will go down the drain, as well as the environmental laws.

Why are you doing this?

I’ll hyperfixate on this for the next few hours, so I think this might be constructive.