In the first round of the 2022 Brazilian General Elections,2026 electionsThe change of polling stations by the Rio de Janeiro State Electoral Court (TRE-RJ) affected more than half of the voters in the Maré Complex, in the northern zone of the capital of Rio de Janeiro State. The court's justification is that the Maré communities are a "risk area" due to the domination of factions and drug trafficking.
The state acknowledges that it's not safe to vote here [in Maré] and is having residents vote outside. What's the impact? 'We're always in opposition,' says Tainá Alvarenga, coordinator of the Maré Networks organization, focusing on the right to public security and access to justice.
According to Alvarenga, various branches of the public sector use the lack of security as an argument, but ultimately interfere with the access to fundamental rights of residents in communities.As a form of transportation, health, crime investigations, and notably, "not having voting spaces changed despite the discourse of public security," she states to.Public Agency.
"The school offers fewer school days due to security concerns, the defense cannot come without authorization due to security, and the Public Ministry cannot visit because it is a conflict zone, and there cannot be an expertise [for the same reason]," the coordinator states.
In aarticlepublished in the O Globo newspaper, the founding director of the Redes da Maré organization, Eliana Sousa Silva, explains that the 161st Electoral Zone (ZE) is the most representative for Maré because approximately 60% of its sections are located within the territory or in its surroundings.
Asurveyby Consultor Jurídico reveals that the nine electoral zones in Rio de Janeiro with changed voting locations had a higher abstention rate.In these zones, the average abstention rate was 25.83% while the national index stood at 21.08%. The 161st ZE was precisely the one with the highest number of addresses changed, according to the research, and achieved the highest abstention rate, 28.46%.
A total of 72 polling stations in Rio de Janeiro were changed by the TRE-RJ, affecting 20 municipalities in the state and approximately 200,000 voters, according to Eliana Sousa Silva. In the Maré Complex, voters were relocated to sites up to 7 kilometers from their original locations.
The founder of Redes Maré also points out in her article that in the 161st ZE, Lula beat Flávio Bolsonaro by a margin of 14 percentage points, achieving almost 10 points more than he did in Rio City. And, for governor, Eduardo Paes had 8 percentage points more than his average in the rest of the capital. "There is a lack of transparency regarding the criteria justifying the removal of some sections and the retention of others in the same region," Silva assesses.
“The transferred locations operate in municipal schools. If these buildings receive children daily, why would they be inappropriate for adults to vote for a few hours?Without transparent criteria, the decision reinforces the stigma of the favela as a dangerous territory and disregards its community organization.
This is not the first time the TRE-RJ has transferred voters to other locations. In 2024, Redes da Maré calculated that 50.6% of eligible voters at the site were affected by changes in polling stations. The study "How Maré Votes," conducted by the organization, highlights that the warning about the risk of abstention due to the constant changes in addresses made by the state's electoral court was already made in the previous election.
According to the analysis, Maré residents who previously voted within the territory were the ones who most suffered from accessibility and urban mobility difficulties. "The transfer may result in increased walking time, the need to cross major avenues such as Brazil Avenue and the Yellow Line, absence or inadequacy of public transportation, [etc.] which disproportionately affects young people, women heads of household, people with disabilities and the elderly who live in Maré," it details.
The research also points out that, although free public transportation on election days is "fundamental to reduce economic barriers to voting," it is not enough to guarantee the right to vote. "Freefulness does not, in itself, mean accessibilityThis distinction is especially significant in the Mare, where collective transport focuses on the major roads that border the territory, he assesses.
This year, the Electoral Court included the Mare in the "Your Vote Matters" project, aimed at assisting people with reduced mobility and people with disabilities to travel to their polling stations in Bonsucesso.