Elections and referendums, to vote with anti Covid measures: at 11 pm turnout around 40 percent

• Elections, 15 million masks and 315 thousand liters of gel to ensure safety in the polling stations

• Elections: Viminale, guide to anti Covid measures

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21 September 2020 There was a lot of sweat - in some cases all night - in the municipal offices to plug the holes caused by the mass "flight" of seat presidents and designated tellers, but at 7 am the sections with the polls are all were regularly open, as certified by the Interior Ministry.

For the constitutional referendum on the cut of parliamentarians, just under 40% of those entitled to vote (39.38%) had voted at 11 pm, the closing time of the polls. For the regional ones, the turnout was 41.37%. Also at 11 pm the turnout for the municipalities was 49.60%. The polling stations reopen at 7 and you can vote up to 15.

The anti-Covid prescriptions - gels, masks, separate paths, sanitized pencils - have not created any particular inconvenience, beyond some episodes of Coronavirus positivity that have forced a temporary suspension of electoral operations.

For the Referendum, 46,415,806 voters are called to the polls, in a total of 61,622 sections. For the Supplements of the Senate, those entitled to vote are 427,824 for Sardinia and 326,475 for Veneto. The regional elections (in Valle d'Aosta, Veneto, Liguria, Tuscany, Marche, Campania, Puglia) involve 18,471,692 voters and a total of 22,061 sections. On the other hand, the Administrative Lectures are held in 957 municipalities for a total of 5,703,817 voters.

At the close of the polls will follow the ballots of the supplementary, the Referendum and the Regionals. The administrative scrutiny will begin at 9 on Tuesday. The appeals - also via social media - launched by the municipalities in the end worked. Substitutes have been found and sections have been established.

The question printed on the referendum ballot is: "Approve the text of the constitutional law concerning 'Amendments to articles 56, 57 and 59 of the Constitution regarding the reduction of the number of parliamentarians', approved by Parliament and published in the Official Gazette of the Republic 240 of 12 October 2019? ". The voter will have to tick the Yes box if he wants to confirm the constitutional reform that reduces parliamentarians from the current 945 to a total of 600 (400 deputies and 200 senators), while he will have to put a sign on the No if he does not want the reform to come into force. No quorum is required for the validity of the constitutional referendum: the referendum outcome is in any case valid regardless of the percentage of voters' participation.

ballots The ballots will be 'staggered': the first ballots to be scrutinized are those of by-elections, whose counting will begin on Monday immediately after the polls close. It continues with the scrutiny of the constitutional referendum and subsequently, without interruption, the scrutiny of the Regionals will be held. The scrutiny of the municipal authorities, on the other hand, is postponed from 9.00 on Tuesday. 

Obligation to

a mask for all voters who go to the polls; disinfectant gel at the entrance and inside the seat; differentiated paths; no to measuring the temperature, but the voter who is positive, in quarantine or in home isolation must notify the municipality to express the right to vote at home, in total safety. Those of 20 and 21 September will be the first elections, referendums and administrative in some cases, in the era of Covid. There are numerous measures that will have to be implemented to combine the right to vote and the right to health. 

Voters who go to the polls, the polling chairman and all members of the polling station are required to wear masks during the voting exercise. In particular, the seat members are asked to replace the masks every 4-5 hours if surgical, every 8-10 hours if Ffp2. The prefectures will deliver the personal protective equipment provided free of charge by the Extraordinary Commissioner for the Covid-19 Emergency, Domenico Arcuri and destined for over 60 thousand seats. 15.1 million surgical masks will be distributed. Spacing

The seats must have different entry and exit routes, signs to indicate the route and to ensure the spacing of at least one meter. The cabins must be spaced. Also delivered 315,000 liters of sanitizing gel, used to protect citizens who go to vote, the components of the polling station and the operators involved. The gels must be placed inside the schools used for voting and inside each polling station. The voter is invited to sanitize their hands before and after the vote. Good ventilation of the environment and sanitation of surfaces and booths are required during the two voting days and between one day and the next. The copying pencils themselves must be sanitized between one voter and another. The use of gloves for the chairman and for tellers is recommended. The delivery of 3.4 million gloves to the polling stations is expected.

A total of 1,820 voters subjected to home treatment or in conditions of quarantine or fiduciary isolation for Covid-19 who have asked to make use of home voting. The Interior Ministry makes it known.