Erik Reuter asked:
>
>> Officials were also heartened by statistics indicating
>> that the number of blank and spoiled ballots fell by
>> nearly half, from 18.7 percent in the 1998 general
>> election to 10.7 percent in the first round of
>> voting.
>
> How can you have a "blank" or "spoiled" ballot on the
> computer? Doesn't it check to make sure that you recorded
> at least one vote, and that you
> didn't mess anything up? What accounted for the 10.7 percent?
>
The voting machine has three buttons below the
numerical keyboard: [Blank] [Correct] [Confirm]
So, you have the explicit option to vote [Blank], and then
[Confirm] it.
Or you can enter an invalid number (say, 00 for
President). It will tell you that you are voting
"spoiled" ("null"), but you can [Confirm] it anyway.
So, those 10.7% are people that _chose_ to invalidate
the vote.
There's a Java Applet to simulate the vote at...
http://www.riberguia.com.br/votebrasil/urna.asp
... you must click in the "Clique aqui" text.
Alberto Monteiro
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