In a note sent to Buenos Aires city and national election authorities, federal judge María Servini called the primary elections held in BA city last Sunday “the most problematic election of the last 30 years” due to the significant delays caused by technical issues with electronic voting machines used for electing local authorities, adding that the October 22 general election “cannot take place in the same conditions.”

Servini had already called attention to these problems while the primaries were taking place last Sunday, pointing to specific issues her team had verified in different locations across the city. While some machines didn’t work, other voting centers had them but were unable to get them running or test them. Interviewed by media outlets, BA city residents reported waiting between one and two hours in some voting centers.

“These problems, seen all day long in booths and voting centers, turned these primaries into the most problematic and conflict-ridden elections of the last 30 years in the city, affecting the right to vote of many citizens, who were unable to vote for local authorities, or had to do so in deficient conditions,” she wrote in her letter, which was also addressed to BA city electoral judge. 

Due to these problems, Servini states that the “Agreement Act […] cannot be upheld, due to the fact that the second clause has clearly been voided.” This agreement, signed between the BA city Electoral Court and the Director of the Electoral Management Institute (IGE, for its Spanish acronym), the city organ in charge of organizing elections, allowed the city to use electronic voting machines in Sunday’s PASO. 

The clause Servini is referring to states that “IGE and local authorities have exclusive responsibility in the implementation of voting technology […] and local authorities will guarantee machines function correctly, that all cabling is correctly installed, and the availability of suited technical personnel.” 

In the note, the judge included details of problems with 250 electronic voting machines in the city.

In voiding this agreement, Servini notes that city authorities must now rethink how to organize the general elections and come up with an alternative that makes it easier for people to vote. “To submit the citizenry to the degrading conditions in which they voted on August 13 again would be a mockery,” the judge noted.

Before Servini’s note Thursday and responding to her Sunday remarks regarding the delays in voting, Juntos por el Cambio (JxC) Buenos Aires city mayor candidate Jorge Macri raised the possibility that the election for BA authorities could take place on the same day as the national election, using paper ballots but in different voting boxes. 

“It takes longer, but there’s no machine problems, and people are more used to it”, Macri said, adding that splitting the election and having them on different days was not ideal. “Asking people to do that is too taxing.” 

Unión por la Patria (UxP) representatives told Télam that they share the concerns raised by Servini, but agreed that splitting the election would “add more problems.” 

– with information from Télam