Electronic voting in Brazil

Electronic voting in Brazil was first deployed in 1996, in pilot use in dozens of municipalities including in the state of Santa Catarina, and was progressively expanded nationwide. The system is administered by the Electoral Justice (Justiça Eleitoral), headed by the Superior Electoral Court (Tribunal Superior Eleitoral, TSE) and the Regional Electoral Courts (Tribunais Regionais Eleitorais, TREs), which are responsible for voter registration, biometric identification, vote collection, result tabulation, transmission and consolidation of results, and formal certification of the outcome. The electronic voting machine used at polling places (Portuguese: urna eletrônica) is just one component of this broader infrastructure. Its design emphasizes operational simplicity for voters — often compared to the usability of a public phone booth, and it functions as a dedicated terminal that records each ballot locally, encrypts and stores the vote, and produces a digital tally at the end of the day. As of 2023, Brazil is the only country in the world to conduct its elections entirely through electronic voting.