As previously posted here, the “You poll-watcher” is a campaign that is questioning the lack of accountability in
the Brazilian elections. The campaign is being
considered a success for its organisers, who were not expecting such mobilisation.
Brief
recap: The campaign invited the voters to increase the accountability of the
elections by photographing the extracts of the electronic ballot boxes in the
Election Days (October 5, first round, and November 15, second round).
According to the organizers, in the first round they received more than 15,000
extracts and in the second round, more than 8,000.
This success, as discussed in a previous post of this blog, may
be explained by the tactic used: empowerment of the voters. However, with the
aim of empowering, the first challenge was to convince people that the campaign
was legitimate and that the organizers were trustable. In order to analyse how
the organizers over came this first challenge, may be helpful to discuss the
idea of frames and storytelling.
Frames are preconceptions
through which an issue is perceived and characterised (New Economic Foundation, 2014). Polletta (1998) highlights its importance for
campaigners, considering its use for persuasion and mobilisation, as well as for
deconstruction of oppositional ideas. In the case of the Brazilian elections,
the frame used by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) is that the security
of the electronic vote is guaranteed:
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“This is how it is inside the ballot box: your vote is closely kept secret.”
2014 TSE’s campaign
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To refute this
frame, it was necessary to use a counter-frame. Nevertheless, it was not enough
just to say “No. The security of the electronic ballot box is not guaranteed!”.
As pointed out for Polletta (1998) to objectify what is subjective, a frame (or
a counter-frame) is better “exemplified through narratives” or, in other words,
it is necessary to tell a story, which includes characters, a plot and a moral.
Hence, in order to tell the story about the risk of the current system of
electronic vote, the organizers produced a video. In it, it is possible
to identify who is the protagonist
(Professor Aranha) and who is the antagonist
(TSE). On one hand, the protagonist is presented as a Professor of one of the
most important universities of Brazil and, therefore, as an experienced
researcher that has authority to evaluate the security of the ballot box. On
the other hand, TSE is presented as an institution that is not transparent.
In relation to the
plot, the story began in 2012, when
the team coordinated by Professor Aranha identified vulnerability in the
system. Since TSE have not promoted any further tests, the uncertainty about
the solution of the problems prompted the Professor to start a campaign. It is
important to notice that, in this plot, a sense of justice, rather than an
academic curiosity, motivated the campaign. In addition, the sequence of
events, as organized in this story, evidences that the fragility of the
security of the system is real and, therefore, legitimates the campaign.
At last, the
video presents the moral of the story,
that is the need for increasing accountability of the Brazilian’s elections. In
this sense, independently of the results of the campaign, the story can be
repeated and retold. The message is simple: the Supreme Electoral Court must be
more transparent.
Therefore, stories
can be a way to legitimate campaigns and to convince people that its organizers
are trustable. Through stories, the frames are exemplified, made concrete and
its potential of persuasion is increased (Polletta, 1998). In this example, it
is possible to notice that the campaign uses a counter-frame to refute the
frame used by TSE, and presents this counter-frame in a well-structured story.
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Reference:
Polletta, F. (1998), Contending
Stories: Narrative in Social Movements. Qualitative Sociology, Vol. 21, No.
4.
New Economics Foundation (2014) Framing the Economy: The Austerity Story. Available at:
http://www.neweconomics.org/publications/entry/framing-the-economy-the-austerity-story
