Electoral court approves plan to increase transparency in elections

The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) has approved an action plan to increase transparency in the electoral process. After a meeting held on Monday (April 25) with members of the Election Transparency Commission, ten measures were defined that will be applied in the October elections.

Mechanisms have been approved, such as the expansion of access to the source code of the programs used in electronic voting machines, an increase in the number of inspection entities that participate in the ceremony to prepare the voting machines, improvement, and expansion of the equipment audit tests, and an additional checking of the voting machine report card that allows printing the sum of votes from the voting machine in each electoral section.

The plan was based on 44 suggestions made by members of the commission, among which, six were made by the Armed Forces, 11 by the Federal Police, and ten by the University of São Paulo (USP).

The Election Transparency Commission (CTE) is also composed of representatives of the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB), the Chamber of Deputies, and the Senate, besides civil society organizations.

The first round will be held on October 2, when voters go to the polls to elect Brazil´s President, governors, senators, federal, state, and district deputies. An eventual second round for the presidential and state governments race will be on October 30.