Brazil election: TSE replaces 1,861 voting machines in first round

Brazil's electoral authorities replaced 1,861 electronic voting machines during the first round of voting on Sunday, though officials confirmed that backup systems kept the election fully digital without any need to resort to paper ballots.

The total number of swaps accounted for 0.34% of the electronic equipment prepared for the day, according to the final election-day bulletin issued by the Tribunal Superior Eleitoral (TSE) shortly after polls closed at 6:00 pm.

The day began with relatively few disruptions, with only 421 machines swapped in the first two hours of polling—about 0.7% of the primary machines in active use. However, as millions of voters headed to the polls, technical glitches accumulated, requiring election workers to deploy backup units in every single state across the country.

Which regions saw the most replacements?

São Paulo, Brazil’s most populous state, recorded the highest number of replacements with 334 machines swapped out. Rio de Janeiro followed with 226, while the southern state of Paraná registered 215.

Despite the logistical challenges, the voting process continued without major interruptions. Even in southern municipalities hit by heavy downpours, the voting system remained online. The TSE president, Kassio Nunes Marques, stated that local polling stations in Paraná managed to keep their machines running using backup generators and internal batteries.

How the backup system works

Brazil’s electronic voting system relies on a massive logistical safety net. For this election, the TSE deployed 499,248 active voting machines and prepared a further 68,912 contingency units to replace any that broke down.

Electoral law permits polling stations to switch to traditional paper ballots if a backup machine cannot be set up or fails to work. However, the court confirmed that this emergency measure was not needed anywhere in the country during Sunday’s first round.

The TSE does not release detailed technical breakdowns for individual machine failures, but officials explained that replacements are standard procedure for minor operational or hardware glitches.

Security audits and voter turnout

More than 158.7 million Brazilians were registered to vote in the elections to choose a president, state governors, senators, and federal and state deputies.

To guarantee the integrity of the voting machines, a team of 55 auditors from the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) monitored the standard integrity tests conducted on randomly selected machines throughout the country. The TSE reported that no irregularities or security issues were found during these checks.