World
Brazilian voter rolls grow in the United States, and access to voting raises concerns in New York
The United States will concentrate the largest number of Brazilian voters outside Brazil in the 2026 elections. In New York, the change in the voting location to Queens drew complaints over the distance and fears of immigration checks.
The United States will again bring together the largest voter roll of Brazilians eligible to vote outside their country in the 2026 presidential elections. According to data from the Tribunal Superior Eleitoral cited by G1 Globo, there are about 265,000 registered voters in U.S. territory, compared with nearly 183,000 in 2022, an increase of approximately 45%.
According to the same outlet, a total of 918,900 Brazilians are eligible to vote abroad this year, compared with 697,100 in the last presidential election. Boston has the largest number of voters in the United States, with 53,400 eligible people, followed by Miami, with 40,109, and New York, with 39,026.
The growth in the voter roll comes alongside an expansion of the electoral structure abroad. G1 Globo reported that in April the TSE approved the transfer of 13.2 million reais to rent properties outside Brazil and that Itamaraty is working this year with 66 additional addresses for the holding of the elections, 14 of them in the United States.
In New York, the Consulado-General do Brasil decided to move voting from Manhattan to an educational institution in Queens, a decision that drew criticism from part of the electorate. The new location is about 16 kilometers from the consular headquarters and has no direct subway access. In addition, the New York jurisdiction also includes Brazilians who live in New Jersey and in the Philadelphia region, who must travel to the city to vote.
G1 Globo reported the case of Amanda Lourenço, a Brazilian who lives in Pennsylvania and said she already needed about an hour and a half by car to vote in New York. According to her account, in 2022 she took part in the first round but did not return for the second because of the distance, and now the new trip will take her at least half an hour longer.
The Brazilian outlet indicated that distance was not the only factor considered in choosing the new site. Amid the tightening of the immigration policy of Donald Trump’s government and the increase in operations by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Brazilian authorities also took into account fears of possible approaches by ICE agents.
According to G1 Globo, the building chosen in Queens makes it possible to organize lines inside the educational complex and avoid thousands of Brazilians waiting on public streets. The Secretariat of International Relations of the New York City Hall and the city police also took part in the review of alternatives. The same complex had already been used by the Consulado-General do Peru in the April presidential election.
The challenge is not only to absorb a larger voter roll, but also to achieve higher turnout. In 2022, abstention among Brazilians voting outside the country was 63.36% in the first round and 61.44% in the second, always according to the data cited by G1 Globo. In that election, Jair Bolsonaro won about 65% of the valid votes in the United States, with Miami as his main stronghold, while Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva only won in three of the country’s ten consular posts.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with assistance from artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not conduct its own reporting on this fact.
