SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Polling in national elections in Brazil Sunday extended worldwide to some 200,000 expatriates regardless of their citizenship, consular officials said.
Evaldo Freire, Brazil's deputy consul for Northern California and the Pacific Northwest, told the Contra Costa Times voting in compulsory for expatriates who are literate and under the age of 70.
"It's a message that they're connected to Brazil, that they want to have some participation in the political process," Freire said.
Anyone who does not vote must explain in writing to the government in Brasilia why he or she didn't, or face problems on return to Brazil. The penalties range from blocked bank accounts to fines and passport renewal problems, the report said.
There are some 6,400 expatriate Brazilians in the San Francisco/Los Angeles area alone, the newspaper said.
Sunday's vote among some 135 million eligible voters was to elect a new president, 54 state senators, 27 state governors, as well as 531 federal and state deputies, the BBC said.
