Security in the second round of municipal elections in the state of Rio de Janeiro will be reinforced. This Sunday (27), voters from Niterói, in the metropolitan region, and Petrópolis, in the mountainous region, will return to the polling stations to choose who will command these municipalities for the next four years.
According to the Rio de Janeiro government, with the special scheme, the State Secretariat of Military Police will distribute 754 PMs in these cities.
“Battalion personnel, as well as agents on Additional Service Regime, will be ready for action. Niterói will have the reinforcement of 535 police officers and Petrópolis, with 219”, he informed in a note.
Police officers will be responsible for patrolling public roads, escorting ballot boxes, securing polling place buildings, supporting electoral inspection activities, transporting material and providing assistance at police stations.
According to the Rio government, the special plan for the elections, which began at 8 am this Saturday (26), will continue until Sunday night. “The role of the military police begins with escorting the ballot boxes to the polling stations, securing polling places before, during and after the election and monitoring the return of the ballot boxes to the Regional Electoral Court (TRE)”, he reported.
To ensure faster service to the population, reinforcement at police stations and forensics posts is also part of the planning.
Governor Cláudio Castro hopes that increased security will bring tranquility to the second round. “The reinforcement of personnel is part of our security planning for special events and occurs in an integrated manner with the TRE and other bodies involved on voting day. The operation will be monitored by our Integrated Command and Control Center (CICC) in the capital”, he stated in the note.
Based on an agreement with the Regional Electoral Court, around 50 military firefighters and 34 vehicles from the Military Fire Department of the State of Rio de Janeiro will be available to support the activities of the electoral offices and the TRE-RJ headquarters. The work of firefighters will be carried out, according to demand, in locations, dates and times defined by the TRE-RJ administration, under orders from inspectors.
“The corporation is responsible for supporting electoral inspection activities and transporting material, with the commitment of vehicles and their drivers. Around 16 firefighters will be responsible for coordinating the operation, directly from CICC”, added the note.
Prize draw
This morning, TRE-RJ drew the nine electronic voting machines from Niterói and Petrópolis that will undergo one of the two types of Electronic Voting Operation Audit in the second round. One of them is the Authenticity Test and the other is the Integrity Test.
The ceremony, held in the Plenary of the Palace of Democracy, in the center of Rio, was opened by the president of the TRE-RJ, judge Henrique Figueira, and by the president of the Electronic Voting Audit Commission (Cave), electoral judge Marcello de Sá Baptista and There was also the presence of the coordinator of monitoring electoral propaganda in the state, judge Bruno Rulière, and the substitute regional electoral prosecutor Flávio Paixão.
The draw for the nine ballot boxes was broadcast on the official TRE-RJ YouTube channel. Among those drawn, five will be subjected to the Electronic Voting Integrity Test, which will take place at TJRJ, during voting hours. Another ballot box will undergo the Integrity Test with Biometrics, at the Country Club Niterói, in Pendotiba.
Before voting begins, three more ballot boxes will undergo the Electoral Systems Authenticity Test, carried out at the selected polling stations. “TSE Resolution 23,673/2021 allows representatives of supervisory entities to choose the ballot boxes to be audited. However, as there was no indication, the ballot boxes were determined by draw”, informed TRE-RJ in a note.
List of ballots drawn:
Integrity Test with Biometrics (Country Club Niterói)
Section 157, 199th Electoral Zone (Niterói)
Integrity Test (Full TJRJ)
Section 403, 29th Electoral Zone (Petrópolis)
Section 1, 65th Electoral Zone (Petrópolis)
Section 103, 71st Electoral Zone (Niterói)
Section 398, 72nd Electoral Zone (Niterói)
Section 111, 144th Electoral Zone (Niterói)
Electoral Systems Authenticity Test
Section 70, 65th Electoral Zone (Petrópolis)
Section 182, 199th Electoral Zone (Niterói)
Section 318, 71st Electoral Zone (Niterói)
Niterói and Petrópolis
Tomorrow, 410,032 voters from Niterói and 245,177 from Petrópolis will go to the polls to elect new mayors. In Niterói the dispute is between Rodrigo Neves (PDT) and Carlos Jordy (PL) and in Petrópolis, between Hugo Hammes (PP) and Yuri (PSOL).
Voters must attend the same polling locations that were open in the first round, from 8 am to 5 pm. Anyone who did not vote in the first round and has a regular voter registration card must vote. As occurred in the first round, the Electoral Court recommends that voters consult the list of all voting locations in these cities in the website from TRE-RJto check if there were any changes in relation to the last election in 2022.
In the second round, the vote is only for the position of mayor. To avoid getting the candidate number wrong, the Electoral Court recommends that everyone carry a “sticky note” with the number of the candidate they intend to vote for.
“The “slip” must be taken on paper, because the use of electronic devices in the voting booth is prohibited by law”, warned the TRE-RJ.
Required document
The voter must present an official document with a photo, such as an identity card, passport, driver’s license or e-Título. This even applies to those who will be identified by biometrics.
“Although the voter registration card is not mandatory, it makes it easier to locate the polling station. Those who prefer can download the e-Título, available on Google Play and the App Store, to obtain the digital version of the document. The issuance of the e-Título will only be available until today, the day before the election”, recalled the court.
Free public transport
As in the first round, the collection of fares for public transport services will be suspended this Sunday to facilitate voter movement. “The exemption includes common buses, municipal and intercity services and ferries. Itineraries are available on website of TRE-RJ, in Elections – 2024 – Voting Locations and Voter Assistance – Free Transport”, he indicated.
Prohibited advertising
Also in this second round, only individual and silent demonstrations by voters are allowed, who can use stickers, flags, brooches or signs. Gatherings with propaganda material, use of loudspeakers, rallies, motorcades, transportation of voters, exit polls and any type of propaganda, such as pamphlets or posters, are prohibited.
