Argentine elections: Half the nation's teen voters missing from voter rolls "by mistake"

[sandensea]

Argentina's National Electoral Commission (CNE) today announced a one-week extension in the deadline for verification of federal voter rolls until Wednesday, May 29.

The unusual step was taken after the CNE confirmed widespread reports of gaps in the voter rolls. Up to half the nation's voting-age teens were never uploaded to the official voter database by the National Registry of Persons "by mistake."

The right to vote was extended to Argentine 16 year-olds in 2012; over 1.1 million 16 and 17 year-olds were registered to vote by 2017 (80% of the total).

Recent polls show right-wing President Mauricio Macri losing to center-left Peronist candidate Alberto Fernández by 23% among younger voters.

Among all voters Fernández is currently leading by 11% despite having announced his candidacy just this Saturday. Former President Cristina Kirchner, who governed Argentina from 2007 to 2015 and who remains popular, is Fernández's running mate.

Narrowly elected in late 2015 on promises to jump-start sluggish growth with tax cuts and deregulation, Macri's policies have instead led to a massive debt crisis, an IMF bailout, and the deepest recession since the 2001-02 collapse.

Now you see it, now you don't

Today's incident underscores wider concerns over the integrity of Argentina's federal elections, scheduled for October 27.

University of Buenos Aires Professor Ariel Garbarz, a cybersecurity expert, warned that Macri's policy of having precinct summaries scanned and transmitted via e-mail to an electronic tabulation center, rather than having them visually verified, makes the process vulnerable to alteration and thereby fraud.

Mid-term elections in 2017 were marred by irregularities, with evidence surfacing of doctored precinct summary pdf files showing zeroed-out counts for Kirchner's Citizen's Unity in a number of cases.

The presiding electoral court judge at the time, Juan Manuel Culotta, was a high-school friend of Macri's. He struck down all complaints, and resigned shortly after the 2017 elections.

At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&tab=wT&sl=pt&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.politicargentina.com%2Fnotas%2F201905%2F29169-el-gobierno-impide-que-los-jovenes-de-16-anos-puedan-votar.html

An Argentine high-schooler votes in the last presidential election in 2015.

President Mauricio Macri, who opposed extending the right to vote to 16 year-olds, is down 23 points among young voters in the latest polls.

"Now there are problems in the voter rolls," according to student leader Ofelia Fernández, "because our voting obviously bothers them."

[Judi Lynn]

1. Love the vibes from that group in the photo with your article. Very big sense of community,

esprit de corps. It's not all that common to see that group concern and hope these days, is it?

It's tremendous hearing young people in Argentina are paying such close attention to politics now, rather than just following passing, superficial events Looks as if they have been paying far more attention to what is being done in their names than Macri and his greedy fellow predators would want.

Macri and his cohorts have 5 months to create unimaginable chaos, still.

Looked for earlier images of Alberto Fernández and saw some from the years before Macri, and finally made the connection to his current photos. He has matured rapidly since the Kirchner days. He was always right in the thick of the action earlier, often very close around the President at important events.



He has probably had a lot on his mind since Macri wormed his way into office.

It's good to remember he was there when Néstor Kirchner led his country back through the gates of hell, out of the raging nightmare it was before Kirchner was elected. (I want to take space to mention for people who didn't know, Néstor Kirchner was also another world leader who had been tortured earlier in his life by a fascist dictatorship. He was a very courageous person.)



Thanks for the helpful update, sandensea.

[sandensea]

2. Exactly. The Beto/Cristina announcement has gone over very well - but they musn't be complacent

As Prof. Garbarz pointed out, the possibility of serious mischief by Macri - particularly at the tabulation stage - are very real.

You'll recall, moreover, that the voting and tabulation machines used in the Congo this January - where no one still knows who really won - had originally been commissioned by Macri for use in Argentina this year.

The units were not only identical to those Macri had purchased in 2016 (w/o congressional approval, which is why he was forced to cancel the order).

But their demo material, U.S.-based election integrity watchdog The Sentry reported, was in Spanish and featured the names of Argentine candidates.

And considering what already happened in 2015 with the U.S. hacking of the Buenos Aires mayoral election, and in 2017 with the doctored precinct summaries (altered pdf files), there's every reason to be concerned.

Stay tuned, Judi. This could get interesting.

P/S: Glad you enjoyed the photo of the young people, giddy at casting their first vote. I thought it really captured the feeling.

The photo probably wasn't taken in Buenos Aires though, I'll tell you.

Like most big city people, the clerks and public servants there tend to be surly and don't smile much. What with those long lines sometimes, who can blame them - especially with the current Macrisis!

[Judi Lynn]

3. Fascinating, and sad news about Argentina-derived voting equipment going to serve in the Congo.

Those in power appear to be more organized than the average citizens would expect, no doubt about that. Wow.
Not such great news.

Hadn't heard the information on the Buenos Aires mayoral election. Things look even more controlled, after learning about that! We have to depend upon serendipity, apparently, just short of total chaos, to use for hope against such determined people!

Thanks for the important insights.