Almost 80 thousand Campos voters did not go to the polls; more than 18 thousand votes were blank or invalid
The municipality had just over 290 thousand voters at the polls; g1 also recorded queues, complaints and incidents during voting.
By Edson Araújo, g1 — Campos dos Goytacazes
In the first round in Campos dos Goytacazes, almost 80 thousand voters did not go to the polls. Furthermore, the municipality recorded 18,294 blank or invalid votes.
For specialist Vinicius Tolentino, the volume of blanks and nulls is a concern. According to him, the data may indicate a lack of voter identification with the candidates.
Voting in the 6th largest electoral college in Rio de Janeiro was peaceful. There were occasional records of queues and the replacement of 1 electronic voting machine.
Just over 290,000 voters, of the 370,142 eligible to vote in the first round of elections, in Campos dos Goytacazes, in the North of Rio de Janeiro, attended the polls, equivalent to around 78.4% of the electorate. Another almost 80 thousand did not vote.
In practice, approximately one in five eligible voters did not go to the polls.
There was also a significant number of votes that were not allocated to any candidate: 10,340 votes were invalid and another 7,954 were blank. Altogether, there are 18,294 blank or null votes.
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Abstention and the volume of blank and invalid votes drew attention to the voting balance in the municipality.
Abstention can have different reasons
Ciep Nilo Peçanha, in Campos, records peaceful voting movement — Photo: Edson Araújo
For lawyer Vinicius Tolentino, a specialist in electoral law, heard by Inter TV, a TV Globo affiliate, abstention cannot be automatically attributed to the population's lack of interest or disbelief in politics.
According to him, different factors can lead voters to not go to the polls, such as being out of town on voting day or facing a health problem.
In the expert's assessment, the number of blank and invalid votes deserves attention because it may indicate a difficulty in identifying the voter with the candidates who were in the dispute.
“When we look at the numbers of blank and null votes, then we start to worry, because it gives the impression that there is a lack of voter identification with those candidates who are there in the ballot box”, he stated.
The lawyer also highlighted the importance of the parties’ activities in the municipalities. For him, a party presence closer to the population can contribute to political formation and greater identification between candidates, parties and voters.
“A party present in the municipality, active, can have good political training, good identification with its electorate and have this result in the elections”, he explained.
Queues and delays at polling places
During the voting, the Inter TV team visited different voting locations in Campos and found different situations.
At the Rotary II State College, in Custodópolis, where there were around 5,200 voters distributed across 15 sections, there was intense movement and complaints related to waiting times.
Some voters reported that they spent more than 30 minutes in line. A voter contacted the team and reported that she had given up voting because of the delay. According to her, her children spent approximately two hours waiting to vote.
In other places visited, such as Colégio Estadual Benta Pereira, in Jardim Carioca, voting took place more calmly. There were 14 sections and 4,957 registered voters. The observed waiting time was approximately ten minutes.
At the Campos Law School, there were 17 sections and 3,780 voters. The vote also took place without any major disruptions during the team's passage.
In the IFF, in the Center, there were two sections and 3,605 voters. The place had intense movement and queues, but, according to the TRE, there were no problems related to the polls.
Urn needed to be replaced
During voting, an electronic ballot box needed to be replaced at Colégio Estadual Benta Pereira, according to information provided by the Regional Electoral Court of Rio de Janeiro (TRE-RJ).
The equipment was replaced and voting continued on site.
Campos was the sixth largest electoral college in the state of Rio de Janeiro in these elections. The municipality had 370,142 voters eligible to vote, distributed across 199 polling locations.
Despite the incidents recorded by the team and the specific situations encountered during voting, most of the locations covered by the report had voting that was considered peaceful.
