With Brazil's presidential elections coming next month, citizens are began to use new apps as tools to express their opinions of their favorite candidates.
The growing use of election apps comes at a time when smartphones are growing in popularity in the country, with smartphone sales increasing by 47 percent in first half of 2014, and these devices currently in the possession of 30 percent of Brazilians, according to The Times of India. Growing use of the internet is also affecting elections, as over 100 million Brazilians are currently active online, which makes up half of the country's population.
Among these electronic apps is "Veto vs. Veto," which is designed to help voters pick the best candidates the same way the "Tinder" app helps people find the best date. Pledges from candidates are provided without their names, and users are given the choice of either "voting" or "vetoing" them.
Another popular app for finding candidates is "Dirty Slate," a name based on the "Clean State" law passed before the polls on Oct. 5th that saw 250 would-be candidates blocked from running due to cases of corruption, The Times of India reported. This app is designed for voters worried about corruption scandals, showing them criminal backgrounds of candidates.
Other voting apps include one that providers voters with candidates' official asset declarations, one that lets users throw virtual tomatoes at candidates' faces, one from Brazil's Supreme Electoral Tribunal that provides access to data on every candidate (all 26,156 of them), and one from news portal UOL that delivers election news and stores ballot numbers of users' preferred candidates.
The growing involvement of the mobile election apps in Brazil has resulted in greater participation of younger voters, as the minimum voting age in the country is 16, and almost 40 percent of voters in Brazil are between the age of 16 and 34, The Times of India reported. This percentage makes up 56.3 million people.
Candidates have also been using social media to better connect with voters, as 76 million Brazilians use Facebook, while 41 million use Twitter. These stats put Brazil at number three in Facebook users and number two in Twitter users.
