The president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Minister Alexandre de Moraes, said today (2) that the first round of the elections was marked by a reduction in the number of blank and null votes. The data were released during a press conference to present the final balance of the voting day. 
According to the court, among the 80% of voters who attended the polls, 4.20% of blank and null votes were registered. In the 2018 elections, the rate was 8.8%.
“Approximately 7.5 million more people showed up to vote for candidates, no longer voting null and void. Perhaps because it is a close, more polarized election. This may have been one of the competing reasons why queues occurred. It is different for a person to cancel the vote, to vote blank than to choose the five options, it takes a little longer. It is a very interesting piece of data, because it represents a greater effective participation in the choice of the country’s leaders”, he evaluated.
The president also confirmed that the abstention rate was 20.89%, a figure considered by the minister in the average of previous elections, which is usually around 20%. In the 2020 municipal elections, held during the height of the covid-19 pandemic, the number of absentee voters was 23.15%.
On the voting day, the president of the TSE considered that the Electoral Justice fulfilled its mission of guaranteeing the security and transparency of the elections.
“Brazilian society has shown great democratic maturity. Voters went to polling stations, voted, chose their candidates in absolute peace and security,” he said.
queues
Regarding the queues of voters registered in different parts of the country, Moraes said that the problem may have been caused by the increase in the 7.5 million voters who started to choose a candidate, the change that allowed the voter to have an extra second in ballot box screen to confirm the candidate of your choice before confirming the vote and failures to recognize the biometric reading.
“These are causes that will be analyzed for the second round”, he added.
