In Brazil, voting is mandatory, however, voters are free not to choose any candidate and choose to vote blank or cancel their vote. But what would be the difference between a blank vote and a null vote?
Check the information below, according to the TSE.
blank vote
A blank vote is one in which the voter expresses a preference for none of the candidates. To vote blank, it is necessary for the voter to press the “white” key on the ballot box and then the “confirm” key.
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null vote
The TSE considers a null vote when the voter expresses his/her desire to annul the vote (as the name implies). To vote null, the voter needs to type a non-existent candidate number, such as “00”, and then press “confirm”.
Does the blank vote go to who is winning?
The blank vote doesn’t go to whoever is winning. Until 1997, the white vote was considered valid (it was counted and given to the winning candidate), in which the voter was satisfied with the candidate who won the elections.
Nowadays it only serves as a statistical basis, being removed from the so-called “valid votes”, which define the result of an election.
valid votes
Currently, the principle of absolute majority of valid votes is in force. This principle of electoral calculation considers only nominal and party votes, disregarding blank and null votes. Thus, blank and null votes are simply not counted. Therefore, even if more than half of the votes cast in an election are null, it is not possible to cancel the contest.
Null and blank votes end up constituting only a right to express voter discontent, having no other use for the electoral process. This is a growing point of debate among experts as the number of disaffected hits records with each new election, yet this level of dissatisfaction is thrown away.
In 2018, the rate of invalid votes in the second round was the highest recorded since 1989, when more than 21% of voters did not attend electoral colleges and more than 11 million voters ruled out voting between whites and nulls. In all, 42.1 million voters failed to choose a candidate.
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