Elections 2022: cell phone cannot be taken to the voting booth, decides TSE
The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) decided in a plenary session on Thursday morning (25) that the voters will not be able to take their cell phone to the voting booth in Elections 2022. According to a new Court order, any electronic device must be retained by the receiving desk before citizens access the ballot box.
The decision was unanimously taken by the group in consultation with União Brasil, where permission to carry the cell phone to the voting area was discussed. According to the ministers, the objective is to guarantee that the vote is confidential, as well as the security of the voter. Furthermore, failure to comply with the rule can be configured as an “electoral offense”.
Previous election periods provided that the handling of cell phones in the voting booth was prohibited and the device should be turned off or kept during the process. With the new opinion of the ministers, the device cannot be taken with the voter to the ballot box, and the Members must retain the device at the time of registration of the citizen.
President of the Court, Alexandre de Moraes reinforces the concerns of the court regarding the entry of the cell phone in the act of voting “because the secrecy of the vote is compromised”, in the words of the chief, in addition to concerns about illegal and conspiratorial acts that could falsely question the security of electronic voting machines.
Moraes exemplifies cases in which cell phone use could become a problem beyond privacy, such as offering illicit benefits in exchange for voting or trying to create videos showing false problems with voting computers.
“If the voter does not want to leave his cell phone with the poll worker, he will already know beforehand that he should leave it at home, with relatives or in the car to avoid irregular recording of the vote”, comments the president.
Cármen Lúcia, who went on to occupy one of the three positions of ministers of the STF in the Electoral Justice, says that the ban is given as “protection of the voter, so that the citizen is not vulnerable to possible injunctions or even threats” in cases of illegal collection. of proofs or manifestations of the vote.
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