Comment by rfonseca
2 years ago
Could not agree more. I think one big problem with Bolsonaro's discourse about the election system -- he was absolutely correct that the current system is not fully verifiable -- is that it became too politicized, and that he or his supporters took this to mean that the election should not be trusted. This automatically made anyone arguing to improve the system be lumped in with those sewing doubts about the result, which eventually led to the backlash from the TSE and the whole Jan 8th debacle.
One big problem with the electoral court in Brazil is that it is the only public branch that concentrates the three powers in one entity: they legislate about elections, they execute the rules, and they judge any matters related to the election. As a result, they have chosen these arguments to shoot down any criticism or improvement suggestions to the election system.
The country deserves a non-politicized discussion on the ground of true technical and security merits of what the election system should be. Paper records with Risk-limiting audits would solve most of the problems. I agree with your [comments] above. The costs of implementing this pale in comparison to the benefits of having a more reliable voting process which is the basis of a strong democracy.
> and that he or his supporters took this to mean that the election should not be trusted
That's exactly what they should think. This is the system by which the power of the people is delegated to representatives. Why should they relinquish any power at all if there's any possibility the results were tampered with? They most certainly should not.
That's the standard of perfection the judge-king himself set when he said the system was "unquestionable". TSE needs to prove beyond shadow of doubt that it cannot be compromised. Anything short of that means the system cannot be trusted. So far I've seen nothing but censorship and persecution from the judge-kings. What are they so afraid of?