4corners - Rio Societies

14
ELECTIONS GUIDE FOR DUMMIES
MIKE ROYSTER
By the time Halloween (31st October)
turns into All Saints Day, Brazil will
have elected a President, 54 Senators,
513 federal Deputies, 27 state
Governors and around 1059 state
Deputies. By the end of All Souls Day
(November 2), the USA will have
elected 37 state Governors, 36 federal
Senators, 435 federal
Congresspersons, and 6,125 state
legislators. The electoral processes in
the two countries vary tremendously,
and we will here attempt to explain the
most significant differences.
Let's start with the fact that in Brazil,
voting is obligatory for all citizens
between ages 18 and 70, whereas in
the US and most other countries, it is
entirely optional — a right, not a duty.
Brazil has no absentee or mail-in
ballots, nor early voting options, as are
common in many parts of the USA.
Voters who are out-of-town on Election
Day must “justify” their inability to vote
in the locale where they are registered,
or be subject to a small fine. Brazilian
citizens who live or are traveling
abroad have the option to vote, as do
US citizens abroad, but only at a
Brazilian embassy or consulate, and
only for President. In the first round of
elections, 15% of Brazilian voters did
not show up at the polls, another 10%
voided their votes, so the number of
votes counted was 75% of the possible;
in the USA, the voter participation on
3rd November probably did not
exceed 55%, although varying from
state to state.
Term limits
The Brazilian Constitution prohibits
Presidents and Governors from
serving more than two consecutive
four-year terms. Under the US
Palacio da Alvorada, Brasilia White House, Washington DC
Constitution, Presidents cannot be
elected for more than two four-year
terms, and some states (but not all)
have similar rules for Governors. The
big difference between them is the
word “consecutive”. Lula was elected
twice, consecutively, so he could not
stand for the 2010 election — but in
2014 he will be free to run again, as is
Fernando Henrique Cardoso. George
Bush and Bill Clinton were elected
twice, so they can never run for
President again.
We next consider second round, or
run-off elections for Executive Branch
positions. In Brazil, if no candidate for
President or Governor or mayor of a
state capital receives one-half plus one
of the valid votes cast in the first round,
there must be a run-off election
between the two candidates who
garnered the most votes in the first
round. That is why Dilma Roussef, who
won almost 47% of the valid votes, was
squared off against José Serra on 31st
October, and why Marina Silva, who
got 19% of the votes for President, is
not running this time. Sergio Cabral,
who won 61% of the votes cast for
Governor of Rio de Janeiro, did not
have to face a second round; however,
7 Brazilian states and the Federal
District did have run-off elections for
Governor. In municipal elections for
mayor, all state capitals and cities with
more than 200,000 registered voters
must have run-off elections; all other
towns use the first-past-the-post system.
American Presidents are chosen by the
sui generis Electoral College system,
and there is never a run-off election.
One result is that a few US Presidents
have been elected even though they
received fewer popular votes than
their adversary. Very few US States
require a run-off election for
Governor, using rather the “first past
the post” system, so that in most states
the candidate with the most votes wins,
even if he received only a minority
share of the total popular vote cast.
The above lead us to another
prominent difference between the
electoral systems. The US system is
actually not a single “system” at all. The
US Constitution grants states the right
to manage elections. Each of the states
determines its own system, and many
states delegate to their counties. This
means that there are literally hundreds
of systems being used simultaneously
on Election Day, with no single
standard to regulate them.
Accordingly, all 50 states would have to
adopt a single standard for voting to
approach the Brazilian system (see
below). Disputes over US elections
must be resolved, first, in state courts,
with appeals then going to the federal
Supreme Court in rare instances —
most readers will remember George
Bush in 2000.
Brazil does it better
Brazil, on the other hand, has a
completely federalized system,
centered on a subdivision of the
judicial branch — the electoral
tribunals, with separate levels of courts
— regional (“TRE”) and superior
(“TSE”). The National Congress
enacts electoral statutes applicable
throughout the country, but the TSE
regulates them and enforces the rules.
If a party or a candidate wishes to
challenge something, it must go to the
electoral court, not to the civil courts.
Decisions by TSE can be appealed to
the Federal Supreme Court (STF).
Because the law determines a universal
standard applied across the country,
all voters from Chuí in Rio Grande do
Sul to Oiapoque in Amapá, use the