Brazilian general election
Today, Brazilians vote for president, 2/3 of the Senate, and the lower house. I'm not only hoping that younger Bolsonaro does not get elected, but also hoping that people do not make far-right candidates a majority in the Senate and the lower house. Sadly, as with mostly everywhere else in the world, social networks are making reality a bit nebulous for people who "don't follow politics" or "don't care about politics", so it's hard to say how it will go. Whoever gets elected president this time around will be able to nominate 3 new justices out of 11, which can easily tip some political scales if they also hold a majority in the legislative branch — which, you know, is not good if it's people who hate minorities and such.
In any case, we'll have the results a few hours after the polling stations close today. Thank god for the voting machines, so we don't have to spend weeks living in anxiety waiting for the counting to finish.
Fun fact: Brazil has been using voting machines since the 90s. As far as I know, it's the only country in the world doing that for 100% of the population, and the whole system is said to be extremely safe by international observers. I've seen people from developed countries saying that it can't be done, but well, developing nations having their expertise ignored isn't new. Anyway, here's a brief article from BBC explaining how electronic voting works in Brazil and why it's safe. The website of the Electoral Court has a section — "Election Process in Brazil" — explaining everything in detail.
Fun fact 2: Voting is mandatory in Brazil. If you don't vote, you have to justify it in court and pay a fine (~1 dollar). If you don't justify it, you can't hold any position working for the government (which are the most secure and better-paying jobs in the country), can't have a passport, can't take loans from federal banks (which have lower interest rates), and can't study in public universities (which are free and considered top-tier).