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Sunday, September 20, 2026
Brazilian court shoots down petition to extend voting hours on Simchat Torah
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleZev Stub is the Times of Israel's Diaspora Affairs correspondent.
Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court rejects a request to extend voting hours to accommodate observant Jewish voters who will be unable to vote during the Simchat Torah holiday, which coincides with the country’s first-round elections on October 4.
The request was filed by São Paulo attorney Monica Rosenberg, a Jewish community member and candidate for the state legislature with the Social Democratic Party. She had sought an extension of voting hours until 8 p.m. at polling stations serving registered observant Jewish voters, or, alternatively, designated polling stations in cities with religious populations.
The court rules that voting hours are established by law and cannot be changed administratively without legislative action. The ruling also cites technical and logistical concerns about modifying election systems on short notice.
Voters who cannot vote because of religious observance may submit an individual justification after the election, which will be reviewed by an electoral judge, the ruling says.
Brazil has around 90,000 Jews, making it the 10th-largest Jewish population in the world and the second-largest in South America, behind Argentina. Rosenberg’s petition collected more than 7,000 signatures, she says.
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