Post #4223202

2026-07-25 19:06 UTC

So yes, Brazil (like the US) surely would benefit from improving its election technology and processes, with things like post-election risk-limiting audits on paper ballots. But that conversation needs to be bipartisan and separated from wild and unsupported accusations of fraud.

Replies (3)

@mattblaze@federate.social 2026-07-25 19:14

People who do serious work in election security understand the razor’s edge on which these discussions occur, and the need to be extremely clear and precise about the difference between saying fraud “could happen” and that it “did happen”. I wish US diplomats understood this, too.

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@xenotar@mastodon.social 2026-07-25 19:13

@mattblaze@federate.social Flávio Bolsonaro is following in his father's footsteps, having also summoned ambassadors from numerous countries to insinuate that electronic voting machines are prone to fraud. Both he and his father did this when they were not the frontrunners in the polls. He, his brothers, and his father have all been elected using these machines since their adoption and never alleged fraud. +

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@Kiloku@burnthis.town 2026-07-26 02:41

@mattblaze@federate.social paper ballots were historically a source of vote manipulation in Brazil. "Coronéis", informal leaders in rural regions with little state presence, would intercept the ballots from a certain area to read them and make sure the people in their sphere of influence voted how they demanded, under threat of collective punishment. The voting machines are standardized nationwide and their source code and hardware are audited by multiple institutions. I don't think it's comparable to the US's

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