Elections in Espírito Santo: replaced ballot boxes, queues and incidents mark the election

A voter went to vote carrying a giant Workers' Party (PT) star in Serra, Espírito Santo, late this Sunday morning (4).

Videos circulating on social media show the woman being escorted by military police officers as she leaves the polling place.

At around 12:30 p.m., geographer Amanda Trotra, 30, was in line to vote by transit. She reported that she had already been there for more than 30 minutes at the CMEI Lizandre Ignes Carpanedo do Carmo, in Jardim Camburi, in Vitória.

Voters who chose to vote in transit will be able to vote outside the city where they have their electoral domicile. The deadline to request the modality ended on August 20th.

Espirito Santo journalist Lara Mireny, who currently lives in Belgium, recorded her vote and that of several other Brazilians in the European city this Sunday morning (4).

At around 6 am Brasília time, there was already a queue outside the Saint Gilles Commune, in Brussels.

"The queue was long, it took us almost 2 hours to be able to vote. Interestingly, the voting was not in this commune, it was in the consulate or embassy, ​​but it changed because the number of Brazilians increased a lot", he said.

Voters report waiting up to 2 hours in lines to vote in electoral zones across Greater Vitória. Carrying a printed or annotated 'slip' with candidate numbers and the voting order in the ballot box can make voting faster.

The Regional Electoral Court (TRE-ES) reported that 84 ballot boxes had problems in the first hours of voting. 58 had their problems resolved on site, and 26 needed to be replaced. The municipalities that recorded the highest occurrences with electronic voting machines were: Serra, with 16; Cariacica, with 12 occurrences and Guarapari, with 12 records. Across Espírito Santo, 10,790 electronic voting machines are being used.

Until 12pm this Sunday (4), according to the Public Security Observatory of Espírito Santo, 65 incidents of electoral crimes were recorded.

Of this total, 42 were due to ballot box picking, nine due to irregular electoral propaganda, five due to disobedience to the orders of the Electoral Court, four due to vote buying, three due to de facto voting at polling places and two due to ticket blocking.

Election Sunday started in a special way for Natália Monteiro, 40 years old, a trader, and her mother, Márcia Moreira, 62 years old.

Before voting, they took the opportunity to participate in the blessing of the animals at Paróquia São Francisco, in Itapuã, Vila Velha, accompanied by their 9-year-old dog Dora.

Mother, daughter and pet then went to the SEB Vila Velha school, in Coqueiral de Itaparica, where the retiree votes. “It is always important to exercise this right”, stressed Natália.

Domestic worker Marina Lopes Vieira da Silva, 62 years old, went early to vote at EMEFM Marília de Rezende Scarton Coutinho, in the Interlagos neighborhood, in Linhares, in the North of Espírito Santo. She took advantage of State Law No. 11,748/2022, which provides for free public transport on election day, to go by bus to the polling place. “It was a help to get there,” he declared.

In Greater Vitória, Transcol buses and waterway ferries are open throughout this voting Sunday (4).