Official Ballots Restricted Suffrage: A Counterintuitive Outcome from Brazil's Second Republic

# Challenging Common Wisdom

While many view the introduction of official ballots as a democratic advancement, this article finds that in Brazil during its Second Republic (1945-1964), it paradoxically restricted voting rights.

## How It Worked

Using ballot-level data from Brazil's Second Republic and exploiting the staggered rollout across municipalities over time, we provide novel evidence on the reform's impact. This methodological approach offers unprecedented accuracy in assessing causal effects.

### Key Findings:

Bullet points highlight our main discoveries:

• Ballot reform made voting significantly harder for individuals with limited literacy
• The introduction of official ballots created substantial barriers to voting participation among less educated citizens
• These unintended consequences contradicted the anticipated outcomes described in parliamentary debates at the time

## Political Science Implications

This research demonstrates that democratic innovations can sometimes produce unexpected limitations on suffrage access. Our findings suggest policymakers should carefully consider potential negative impacts when implementing institutional reforms.