The election in the state of Rio de Janeiro takes place within normal limits and without relevant security events, according to the president of the Regional Electoral Court (TRE-RJ), judge Elton Leme. Even so, there are records of queues in several polling stations in the state, causing delays for voters to reach the voting booths.
The president of TRE-RJ attributed the queues to a set of factors that, together, generate a longer delay. He predicts that the problem should not delay the investigation in the state.
“These lines, on the one hand, represent that voters are going to vote in weight, and that is very positive. We are seeing effective voter participation, mass turnout, and that is excellent,” he said, adding that On the other hand, we have the difficulty of biometrics associated with the lack of the request we made about the glue, the annotation [do número] of the candidates. We are noticing that voters get a little confused when it comes to putting the candidate’s number.”
Elton Leme said that the problems are being normalized with the help of electoral judges who are touring the polling stations and correcting bottlenecks that are verified. The judge asked for tranquility to voters who are in line, because all those who arrive at the polling places until 17:00 will have their right to vote guaranteed.
“Those voters who are in line at 17:00 will receive a password to vote. No one will be left without voting. This is fundamental”, he guaranteed.
A longer delay to vote was already foreseen by the TRE-RJ, which seeks to validate the biometric registration of 1.8 million voters. Up to four attempts are made to digitally read each of these voters, if it is not possible to confirm, these voters can prove their presence by means of a signature on the register of the polling station.
According to the TRE-RJ, the queues are not affecting any specific region of the state, and are recorded in sections throughout the state’s territory.
The court also updated the number of ballot boxes replaced, which reached 290, as of 2:32 pm. The amount is equivalent to 0.85% of the state’s polling stations and is within the reasonable level, which is 3%. Most of the urns that presented a problem are of the older model, from 2009.
