Misleading: It is misleading that it is possible to register complaints on the Pardal app, from the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), in case of problems when voting in the 2022 Elections. federal Carla Zambelli (PL-SP), the TSE’s orientation for this year is for voters to file a complaint about possible malfunctions of the ballot box directly to the president of the polling station. The document used by Zambelli in the video to support the speech was only valid for the second round of the 2018 election.
Investigated Content: Republishing a 2018 video in which Carla Zambelli (PL-SP) says that, on voting day, voters can call the polling station to file complaints on the TSE’s Pardal app, in case of problems with the electronic voting machine at the time of voting. At the end of the recording, Zambelli shows a document signed by the then president of the TSE, Rosa Weber, and by the then Minister of Public Security, Raul Jungmann, which contains guidelines in situations of complications at the time of voting.
where it was published: Kwai.
Completion of Proof: It is misleading that Brazilian voters will be able to file complaints in the application Pardal, of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), if there are problems at the time of voting in the elections. The video that contains disinformation shows federal deputy Carla Zambelli presenting a joint orientation of the TSE and the Ministry of Public Security on the subject. But the content, which is now circulating on Kwai, is actually from 2018.
The Electoral Justice informed that the Pardal application will not receive occurrences of this type in 2022. According to the agency, the tool will only receive denunciations of electoral offenses, such as irregular electoral propaganda practicesvote buying, abuse of economic and political power, among others.
In these elections, according to information from the TSE, voters who want to complain about problems at the time of voting must speak directly with the president of the polling table – area composed of six poll workers appointed by an electoral judge and where the electronic voting machine is installed. Then the judge must be contacted and the occurrence must be recorded in the minutes.
Comprova classifies as misleading all content taken from the original context and used in another so that its meaning is altered; that uses inaccurate data or that leads to an interpretation different from the author’s intention; content that confuses, with or without the deliberate intent to cause harm.
Scope of publication: Comprova investigates content that has greater reach on social networks. As of September 30, the verified video had 303,700 views; 38.1 thousand likes; 2,200 comments and 20,700 shares.
What the author of the publication says: Comprova contacted the author of the post via direct message in the Kwai app, but did not receive a response until the completion of this verification.
How do we check: To ascertain the information in the video, Comprova consulted the document cited by Zambelli available on TSE websiteas well as other court materials on electronic voting machines (1 and two).
In our verification process, we look for the original video post. However, in the midst of so many publications by the candidate, we did not find the content. We requested the content for Carla Zambelli’s press office, who did not return our contact.
The team also gathered information about the sparrow app and contacted the TSE advisory and the person responsible for publishing the video.
Document shown by Zambelli is from 2018
In the video targeted by the check, federal deputy Carla Zambelli refers to a document with guidelines on how to proceed with any problems at the time of voting. The document shown in the footage is from October 16, 2018, whose title is “Joint Guidance No. 01/2018 TSE/MSP”and was signed by the then president of the TSE, Minister Rosa Weber, and by the then Minister of Public Security, Raul Jungmann.
At the time, the TSE and the Ministry of Public Security issued guidelines for the second round “with the objective of standardizing the service, recording and forwarding of complaints related to a possible malfunction of the electronic voting machines and standardizing the handling of occurrences presented to the police, in addition to avoiding misinformation on election day”.
Among the measures mentioned in the text were the orientation for the voter to communicate to the polling station or chairperson of the respective section any problem in the act of voting; procedures for the chairman of the board to record the occurrence in minutes and digital media (Spar application), being mandatory the registration in the same application; and communication of what happened to the electoral judge of the region, who would be responsible for deciding on measures to be adopted.
Two days later, a second document was issued jointly by Organs aforementioned bodies. The “Joint Guidance N° 02/2018 TSE/MSP” changed parts of the initial recommendation, removing the obligation for poll workers and the president of sections to register the occurrence in the Pardal application, but allowing the voter to do the procedure himself, if he wished.
The change took place on the grounds that it was necessary to “avoid the formation of queues during voting” and citing the “lack of internet access in sections and the data transmission costs to be borne by the poll workers”, in case the mandatory use of the application was maintained.
Therefore, the new guidelines signed by the TSE and MSP determined that it would not be up to the polling station officials and section presidents, but the electoral registry office or civil servant under the responsibility of the electoral judge “as soon as possible, register the minutes (referring to occurrences brought by voters), in the Pardal application, selecting, in the application, the option ‘new report’ and then ‘others/complaints’, including inserting a photo of the minutes drawn up”.
Voter cannot file complaints about the polls in the Sparrow in the 2022 elections
The Comprova report accessed Pardal on September 27 and, in the application, currently, the options “new report” and “others/complaints” do not appear. When connecting, the citizen sees two options: “make a complaint” or “consult a complaint”. By clicking on “make a report”, the page is directed to a new tab with two other options: “irregular electoral propaganda” or “internet and other electoral irregularities”:
Given the repercussion of the misinformation, the Electoral Justice, in the Fact or Rumor section of its website, reported that, in 2022, the Sparrow app does not receive reports of problems with the urn. According to the agency, this tool is exclusive to receive denunciations of electoral offenses, such as irregular electoral propaganda of vote buying, abuse of economic power, abuse of political power, use of the public machine for electoral purposes and misuse of the media.
Learn how to report in case of failure
In the event of problems on polling day, the TSE advises voters to submit any complaints of defects or malfunctions of the electronic voting machine directly to the person who presides over the polling station. Then, the judge responsible for the polling station must be immediately contacted, and this occurrence must be recorded in the minutes with the description of the problem presented and the referral that was given.
To ensure the continuity of voting, the Electoral Justice also provides for contingency mechanisms in order to preserve and avoid the loss of voters’ votes, without disregarding the needs for transparency and security that permeate the electoral process as a whole.
The first procedure is the act of turning off and on the electronic voting machine. The action is carried out by the polling station (in this case, the chairman of the board), in view of the inspectors present. Simply restarting the machine, similarly to restarting other electronic devices (computers, cell phones), does not change information already recorded on memory cards. That is, neither the votes already recorded nor the information on which voters have already voted are changed.
If the problem persists, the procedures are: repositioning the memory card; replacement of external memory card; and replacement of the failed urn. If contingency procedures are still not sufficient, only then should voting proceed with the use of paper ballots until closing. For this, and in order to allow for an eventual post-election audit, several measures must be taken, such as the sealing of both the defective ballot box and the contingency ballot box and the respective shipments to the electoral board and team designated by the electoral judge.
As explained by the TSE, the electronic voting machines they are manufactured taking into account a period of approximately ten years of use and, therefore, there is more than one model for each election. The machine interface remains the same, however, internally, the equipment receives new safety devices or with more internal memory, among other improvements. Although preventive tests are adopted in order to avoid problems, the electronic voting machine, like any electronic device, can fail.
Electoral court data show that in the first round of the 2014 elections, for example, 5,275 ballot boxes were replaced across the country, which represents just over 1% of the nearly 450,000 ballot boxes used. In the second round, the number was 3,480 polls, less than 1% of the total. In the next election, according to Agência Brasilin the first round, 2,400 machines were replaced and, in the second, the number rose to just over 4,300.
why do we investigate: Comprova investigates suspicious content that goes viral on social media about the presidential elections, public policies of the federal government and the pandemic. A few days before the first round of the 2022 elections, content that tries to question the security of the polls and the election is frequent. Pieces of misinformation like this one, which try to disrupt the electoral process, can influence the decision of Brazilian voters. The population must choose its candidates based on true and reliable information.
Other checks on the topic: In recent checks on the elections, Comprova showed that it is false that 70% of the electoral process is outsourced and that outsourcing compromises the integrity of electionswhat Tweet deceives by indicating 17 as Bolsonaro’s ballot box number in the elections is that video was manipulated to show the president ahead of Lula in an IPEC survey.
Investigated by: NSC, O Povo, Estado de S.Paulo, Plural Curitiba and SBT; Verified by: Folha de S.Paulo, Nexo, Correio, Metrópoles, O Dia, O Popular, A Gazeta and Piauí
Source: CNN Brasil
