The Central Electoral Board (JEC) has ruled that postal votes destined for Melilla that are deposited in mailboxes instead of being sent by certified mail, votes that are legally considered invalid, are not sent to the polling stations but to the Electoral Board of Zone for recount.

Article 73 of the Electoral Law (LOREG) states that the envelopes containing the postal vote must be sent by registered mail and the postal service will be responsible for keeping the documentation until it is sent to the polling stations on voting day. This implies, recalls the JEC, that "the postal vote that is not sent by certified mail will not be valid".

With general criteria, the JEC has established that this vote deposited in mailboxes, although it is outside the count, must be sent by Correos to the polling stations or, where appropriate, to the electoral boards constituted in the polling station, unless, by reason of the date and provided that the sender is known, it is possible that they are sent back to the voters so that they can make their referral by certified mail.

But in the case of Melilla in these elections this procedure will not be followed. First, due to the high percentage of postal vote requests (20.81% of the census) and, since the requirement of the DNI to cast the vote, the low number of voters who had deposited their vote in the post offices (16.32% two days before the end of the period).

There is also the fact that a judicial investigation is open in the Court of First Instance and Instruction No. 2 of Melilla in relation to an alleged plot about postal voting, which has led to the arrest of several people.

Therefore, given the "peculiar circumstances that concur with respect to postal voting in the city of Melilla" and "to also avoid the confusion that may be caused in the polling stations", the JEC prevents invalid votes from being sent to the tables and orders that those voting envelopes that arrive via ordinary mail be sent directly to the Zone Board for safekeeping. This will also serve in case they are required by the judicial investigation.

  • Melilla

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