BALLOT BOX NAME: LANGUAGE STRATEGIES TO GET VOTES

Abstract

The present relsearch analyzes urn names used by candidates for city councilors in the 2016 elections in 3 cities of Minas Gerais: Serra da Saudade, São José do Jacuri and Araçuaí­. For the theoretical background, studies involving onomastics, specifically anthroponymy,  like those of Vasconcelos (1928), Guerios (1981), Jonasson (1994), Carvalhinhos (2007), Henriques (2007), Van Langendonck (2007) and Amaral (2011). Public electoral data available on the website of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) was collected from each city. A division was made between the candidates and the elected who used orthonyms (the same as the civil name) and allonyms (different from the civil name). In addition, the main processes of civil name changes performed by some candidates (nicknames, hypocorists, kinship, profession, military title, religious title, social role and even physical condition) were presented to the voters. What was proved by the research was the preference for the use of alonyms as the name of a ballot box and the success of the electoral language strategies used by the candidates.