Abstract
Electronic voting machines were used for the first time in general elections in Brazil in 1998; in that year, some cities used this new voting method, while others continued to vote using paper ballots. Few studies have demonstrated that the rate of invalid votes for federal deputy was significantly lower in cities that used electronic voting machines. This article analyzes the frequency of null votes and blank votes for four posts—federal deputy, state deputy, the president and governor. Based on a comparison of the results from the 1998 elections with the results from previous elections (1994), the article demonstrates that electronic voting machines reduced the percentage of blank votes for federal deputy, state deputies, the president and governor. Meanwhile, null votes reduced the competition for the posts of federal deputy and state deputy; however, it increased the competition for posts with greater visibility in the Brazilian political system: the governor and president.
Highlights
Whether because of the significance accorded to votes for proportional offices, or whether because it is much easier to type on the keyboard of an electronic voting machine than it is to write out candidates' names, we found that null votes truly were lower for these two offices
A series of studies have indicated that the introduction of electronic voting machines in the country reduced the amount of invalid votes, which enfranchised many voters: millions of voters who had already or who would have otherwise cast blank votes or null votes because of mistakes while filling in ballots were having their votes counted
The fact that these studies analyzed only the total number of invalid votes, without distinguishing between null votes and blank votes, along with their focus on the results of elections for the Chamber of Deputies, both raise the questions that have guided this article: First, is there any difference when we consider null votes and blank votes separately? Second, to what extent did the observed decline in invalid votes for federal deputy and state deputies occur in the case of executive posts?
Summary
Electronic voting machines were used for the first time in general elections in Brazil in 1998; in that year, some cities used this new voting method, while others continued to vote using paper ballots. The second section offers a brief description of the blank and null votes for the posts of federal deputy, state deputy, governor and president in the 1998 elections, based on the voting system adopted (paper ballots versus electronic voting machines). The distinction between blank and null ballots has been a part of Brazilian election legislation since 1945 Though it seems trivial, the difference has been significant in races for proportional posts (state deputy, congressman and city councilman), since blank votes were distributed among the parties until 19962. When the electronic voting machine was installed in 1996, a law was still in place in which blank votes were counted in the calculations to distribute seats for City Councils, State Assemblies and the Chamber of Deputies among the parties For this reason, a special key was necessary to allow voters to cast blank votes. In Guanabara, the total number of blank votes witnessed a rise from 4.9% to 10.4%11
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