About five months after the release of the report in which specialists from three public universities assessed the integrity of the electronic voting machines used in last year's elections, the rector of Unicamp, Antonio José de Almeida Meirelles, was received this Wednesday (8) by the President of the TSE (Superior Electoral Court), Minister Alexandre de Moraes. In addition to Unicamp, the University of São Paulo (USP) and the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) participated in the preparation of the report.
At the audience, the dean made reference to the role played by the minister in conducting Electoral Justice during the 2022 elections. adopted in the Brazilian electronic voting process.
“Participating in this stage was a source of pride for the University and we continue to work in the Transparency Commission of the electoral process”, said the dean, making himself available for joint work and for possible future actions. It is the duty of society, universities and the academic world to ensure that democracy is preserved.”
On August 25 of last year, these three universities delivered to the TSE the conclusions of the studies they carried out on the source codes of the electronic voting system and on the UE2020 model of the electronic voting machine, used for the first time in the 2022 elections.
Professor at the Institute of Computing and General Director of Information and Communication Technology at Unicamp, Ricardo Dahab says that the Unicamp team examined sensitive parts of the ballot box's source code, responsible for all voting processes, secure storage of votes and generation and signing ballot papers, among others.
“This analysis, performed with complete freedom, resulted in a diagnosis without any indication of impropriety or suspicion in the source code. The teams from USP and UFPE arrived at the same conclusions, regarding the aspects they had to examine”, said the professor.
The expert also recalled that there were no reports of fraud or suspicion during the preparation and operation phases of the ballot boxes in the two rounds of the 2022 elections.
“Unicamp is proud to have contributed to the fairness of the electoral process, vital for the maintenance of our democracy”, concluded Dahab.
UFPE and Unicamp partnered with the Court in the pilot initiative to make source codes available to be stored and inspected outside the TSE premises.
Attacks
Meirelles' visit to Alexandre de Moraes coincides with the one-month anniversary of the invasion of the buildings of the three powers by groups dissatisfied with the results of the elections, in an unprecedented action in the country's recent history. Moraes is responsible for the inquiries opened to determine responsibilities for acts of vandalism and the attempted coup d'état.
The dean gave the minister a plaque of thanks for his services to democracy.
“Unicamp recognizes the honorable President of the TSE for his firmness in the defense of democracy, fairness of the electoral process, his coherence and fidelity to the Constitution”, says the message.
From institution to institution
Also participating in the meeting at the TSE was the superintendent of Unicamp's Hospital de Clínicas, Elaine Ataíde, the first woman elected to the position. She highlighted the objective of formalizing the acknowledgment of an institution to another institution.
In thanking him, the president of the TSE highlighted the importance of dialogue with universities, which are “autonomous institutions, with no ties to the Judiciary or political parties”.
