Brazil’s electronic voting system passes security check amid unfounded fraud claims

Earlier this year, far-right President Jair Bolsonaro spent months waging war on the fully-electronic voting system Brazil has relied on for over 25 years, as well as the electoral authorities themselves.

In July, he went so far as to claim that he would only allow the 2022 presidential elections to go ahead if Brazil modified its voting system to include printed receipts, which he claimed would reduce the “chance of fraud to zero.”

However, as pundits and electoral officials have tirelessly stressed, throughout the 13 general and municipal elections held since the electronic system’s introduction in 1996 there have been no credible reports of fraud. And now, in recent security tests, the Superior Electoral Court has affirmed that the country’s electronic ballot boxes are secure and reliable.

A timeline of electoral skepticism

Back in 1996, the electronic ballot system was regarded as revolutionary. While other democracies such as the U.S. had to wait days or weeks to tabulate votes of general elections, Brazil could declare its results in a matter of hours. Furthermore, the apparatus eradicated persistent forms of voter fraud in the country, such as proxy voting in the place of deceased individuals.

At first, Mr. Bolsonaro seemed to be alone in declaring that electronic ballot boxes were not fraud-proof. In an odd move, he even claimed that the 2018 election — which he won — had been rigged. His accusation was that he had enough votes to obtain victory in the first round, without requiring a runoff.

The electoral court, meanwhile, tried to call the president’s bluff, demanding he shows...