Difference between null and blank votes

In electoral periods, which take place every two years in our country, doubts about the null vote It's from voteWhite affect several Brazilian voters. The big doubts for voters are the basic differences between the two types of votes and whether or not they can nullify an election, whatever it may be. In this text, some questions regarding these two votes will be addressed.

Null vote annuls election?

No, null vote does not nullify the election. There is a lot of confusion in the population about this, so let's clarify. A null vote is one in which the voter expresses the intention to annul his vote for not agreeing with the proposals of any of the candidates. A null vote happens when the voter enters a number that has no registered parties or candidates, such as “00” or “99” in the case of a presidential vote.

Some people believe that if the null votes reach the absolute majority of votes, ie 51%, the election will be cancelled. This informationis not true, for the understanding of the law says that

only valid votes are considered., that is, the votes that are directed to some candidate or to some legend (party).

In this regard, the law located in the Federal Constitution of 1988. Article 77, paragraph 2, for example, when mentioning the choice of the president, states that the candidate who "obtains the absolute majority of votes, not counting blanks and nulls" is elected^|1|.

White vote goes to subtitle?

The answer to that question is also no, the white vote does not go to the subtitle. As mentioned above regarding the Federal Constitution, the Election Law (Law No. 9,504/1997) says that blank and null votes are not computed to define the election of a particular candidate. Thus, the understanding of the law is that the white vote does not go to the subtitle, because it is not considered a valid vote.

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The confusion regarding the white vote refers to the fact that, before the promulgation of the 1988 Constitution, the electoral law then in force stipulated that the white vote would be redirected to the winning candidate and, therefore, it was understood as the vote of the voter who was satisfied with the situation politics. This ceased to exist as of 1988, and, reinforcing, the white vote is today considered an invalid vote.

Blank vote is generally used by voters who did not decide their vote and thus chose to leave it blank. The registration of the blank vote takes place when the voter selects the “blank” key and then selects the “confirm” key.

So what is the difference between a blank vote and a null vote?

In practice, the only difference between blank and null votes, apart from the statistical issue, as they are computed separately, is the way in which the vote is registered in the ballot box by the voter. Anyway, in the end, both are considered invalid votes and do not interfere in the election, in which only valid votes are considered.

^|1|Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil. To access, click on here.
*Image credits: rodrigo gavini and Shutterstock
By Daniel Neves Silva
Graduated in History

Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:

SILVA, Daniel Neves. "Difference between null vote and white vote"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/politica/diferenca-entre-voto-nulo-voto-branco.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.