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Linux is the operating system inside Brazil’s electronic voting machines. Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) calls that distribution Uenux, developed by its own technical staff and built from a bootloader, Linux kernel, drivers, libraries and applications. The example is striking, but precise: Linux runs a defined layer of Brazil’s election technology, not every component of the election and not every voting system worldwide.
Brazil’s voting machines use a TSE-built Linux distribution
TSE Resolution 23.673, dated December 14, 2021, defines Uenux as a “Linux distribution developed by the TSE technical team for use in electronic voting machines.” Its listed components are:
- Bootloader
- Linux kernel
- Device drivers
- Libraries
- Applications
That description matters because it identifies Linux as the machine’s operating-system layer while making clear that Uenux is an integrated election appliance, not an ordinary desktop installation. The TSE, rather than a consumer hardware vendor, develops and administers the distribution for its voting equipment.
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For Brazil’s 2026 general election, the TSE listed four voting-machine models: UE2022, UE2020, UE2015 and UE2013. Its published plan called for 563,910 machines. This is the TSE’s election-cycle plan, not an independently audited final deployment total.
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Linux also appears around the voting machine
The machine itself is only one part of an election system. The TSE’s 2026 hash documentation identifies several supporting election systems as operating in Linux environments, including information, receipt, transmission and vote-totalization systems.
These functions should not be collapsed into one “Linux voting system.” A voting machine records a voter’s choice; transmission and aggregation systems handle other stages; signing and sealing protect the software packages prepared for the election. The documentation’s hashes let officials and observers compare running systems with files sealed at the TSE.
What the TSE says about inspection and software integrity
The TSE reported that source code for the 2026 election systems was available for inspection from October 2, 2025, until the public signing and sealing ceremony on September 4, 2026. It also described digital signatures and seals applied to the systems prepared for that election.
Those are oversight and integrity procedures reported by the electoral authority. Public inspection and cryptographic sealing can make unauthorized changes easier to detect, but they do not, by themselves, prove that vulnerabilities are impossible or settle every question about election security. The claims should therefore be attributed to the TSE and kept separate from broader guarantees.
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Linux in elections is not a universal rule
Brazil demonstrates a national deployment of Linux-based election technology. It does not show that electronic voting everywhere uses Linux. The Election Commission of India describes its electronic voting machines as standalone embedded systems with no operating system. In that design, the relevant software is embedded firmware rather than a general-purpose operating system such as Linux.
The comparison is useful because “voting machine” can describe very different architectures. A claim about an operating system must specify the country, machine model and software layer being discussed.
| Example | Jurisdiction | Linux’s role | Evidence and date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uenux | Brazil, national elections | Operating-system distribution for electronic voting machines | TSE regulation, December 14, 2021; 2026 machine information |
| Election support systems | Brazil, national elections | Linux environments for information, receipt, transmission and vote-totalization systems | TSE 2026 hash documentation |
| Electronic voting and counting software | Australian Capital Territory, subnational jurisdiction | Linux open-source software used to build the systems | International IDEA account; reported use since 2001 |
| Electronic voting machines | India, national system | Standalone embedded devices described as having no operating system | Election Commission of India |
Another documented example: Australia’s capital territory
International IDEA reports that electronic voting and counting software in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) was built using Linux open-source software beginning in 2001. The ACT is a territory-level jurisdiction, not all of Australia, so the accurate claim is regional: Linux was used to build election software there.
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Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →This example also differs from Brazil’s. In Brazil, the TSE explicitly identifies Uenux as the Linux distribution used in voting machines. In the ACT account, Linux is described as the open-source software foundation used to build electronic voting and counting software. “Linux in elections” can therefore mean a device operating system, an application platform or an environment for associated services.
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Where else Linux can be hiding
The election examples illustrate a broader pattern. Linux often operates below the interface people see:
- Embedded devices: manufacturers can combine the kernel with custom drivers and applications, so users encounter a dedicated appliance rather than a Linux desktop.
- Servers and infrastructure: organizations may expose a web portal or service while Linux runs the underlying host.
- Special-purpose control systems: a customized distribution can be locked to one job, with no app store, desktop or visible command line.
- Supporting software: even when a field device uses firmware without an operating system, nearby databases, transmission services or reporting tools may run in Linux environments.
The practical lesson is to ask which layer is running Linux: the device firmware, the device operating system, an application runtime, a server, or an administrative tool. Those are different claims with different security and maintenance implications.
How to evaluate a claim that “Linux runs there”
- Identify the jurisdiction and date. A national deployment, a territory-level project and a historical prototype are not interchangeable.
- Name the component. Distinguish the voting device from transmission, counting, registration and reporting systems.
- Check the evidence type. An operator’s regulation or technical document is stronger evidence for a deployed system than a secondary description.
- Separate software from guarantees. Linux’s presence says what platform is used; it does not establish that an election is secure or insecure on its own.
- Look for the exact architecture. Some embedded machines have no operating system at all, while others use a customized Linux distribution.
The Bottom Line
Linux is quietly running in a particularly consequential place: Brazil’s national electronic voting machines, through the TSE-developed Uenux distribution, with Linux environments also used by related election systems. The Australian Capital Territory provides a separate, subnational example. India’s operating-system-free EVM design shows why the careful answer is never simply “all voting machines run Linux.”
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