A RECORD news team was the first to report on the electoral process inside the Vale do Javari Indigenous Land — Brazil’s second largest and home to the highest concentration of uncontacted Indigenous peoples in the world. Three days before the first round of the municipal elections, journalists boarded a Black Hawk helicopter alongside technicians from the Regional Electoral Court of Amazonas (TRE-AM), Army soldiers, and police officers to follow the delivery of electronic voting machines to villages. Since 2016, the Electoral Court and the Army have worked together to ensure the right to vote for Indigenous communities in the region. This year, seven machines were distributed throughout the territory.
The special report “The Vote in the Vale”, published by R7 Estúdio, exclusively documented the electoral process within the Vale do Javari Indigenous Land, revealing the complex logistics behind delivering electronic voting machines to some of the most remote villages in Brazil.
It marked the first journalistic coverage of the alliance between TRE-AM, the TSE, the Brazilian Army, and Indigenous leaders, who have worked together since 2016 to make direct voting possible in these communities.
The publication gained significant visibility, by:
Highlighting Indigenous participation in the elections as a topic of national relevance;
Reinforcing R7 Estúdio’s role as a platform for storytelling that connects politics, culture, and citizenship in a unique way;
Sparking public debate on technology, democracy, infrastructure, and Indigenous rights, influencing the editorial agendas of other news outlets.