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Electoral Court calls ambassadors to explain voting machines

Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court has scheduled a second meeting for August 17 with ambassadors, diplomatic representatives, and international organizations to explain how Brazil’s electronic voting machines work, as well as the country’s electoral system. The meeting should take place at the court headquarters and will continue efforts to promote transparency toward the international community. Notícias relacionadas:Electoral Court approves restrictions on AI use in 2026 elections.Brazil has 158.7 million eligible voters for the October election.In it, the president of the court, Judge Kássio Nunes Marques, will once again explain how electronic voting machines operate. This statement came after Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the Liberal Party’s presidential candidate, adopted the same strategy as his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, of spreading false information about electronic voting machines to ambassadors from other countries, raising questions about the reliability of the Brazilian electoral system. Fake news Without presenting any evidence, Flávio Bolsonaro claimed that many of the machines used in Brazilian elections were supplied by Smartmatic, a company linked to the Venezuelan electoral system. In response to the statements, the Electoral Court has publicly reaffirmed that Smartmatic did not supply voting machines or develop software for Brazilian elections. The court reiterated that the voting machines were designed by court officials and manufactured by companies contracted through a public bidding process, noting that the link between Smartmatic and the Brazilian voting system has been debunked several times in recent years. Critics and experts viewed the incident as a revival of the strategy adopted by former President Jair Bolsonaro, who repeatedly questioned the security of electronic voting machines and, in 2022, convened ambassadors to present allegations that were later deemed unfounded by the Electoral Court. In a statement, the Superior Electoral Court announced that the Brazilian elections will be monitored by numerous international observers. Among them are the European Union, the Organization of American States (OAS), Parlasul, the Carter Center, Uniore, and ROJAE-CPLP. All will be part of the Electoral Observer Mission to monitor the October election.