• CHRISTIAN LOUIS

    @cristinaluisf

  • ELSA MARTIN

    @elsa_millan

Updated Thursday,1June2023-23:22

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  • Polling station Reasons for not being a member of an electoral table
  • Voting How to request a vote by mail
  • Elections If I vote by mail, can I get a polling station?

EL MUNDO offers you this complete visual guide to answer the doubts that have arisen after the call for early elections for Sunday, July 23, 2023, the date on which many citizens will be on vacation.

We detail the information in five blocks:

1. How to vote by mail if I live in Spain?

2. How to vote by mail if I live abroad?

3. If I vote by mail, can I get rid of being a member of a polling station?

4. What should I do to present an excuse that exempts me from being a member of the polling station?

5. What happens if I don't show up at the table?

1. How to vote by mail if I live in Spain?

From Tuesday, May 30 to July 13 you can request a postal vote if you live in Spain. It is very important that you remember that from the moment you have requested to vote by mail, if the application is accepted, you will no longer be able to vote in person.

July 19 is the last day to send by certified postal vote for residents in Spain.

On election day, the postal service sends votes to the polling stations at 9 a.m. It will continue to transfer postal shipments that continue to be received throughout the day, until 20 hours. At that time, after the voting and before the count, the table will introduce the voting envelopes received by mail in the ballot box.

2. How to vote by mail if I live abroad?

The more than two and a half million Spaniards living abroad will have a deadline to send their vote on July 20.

3. If I vote by mail, can I be a member of a polling station?

Despite the widespread belief, asking for a postal vote does not exempt us from being called to a polling station. The voter who exercises his right to vote by mail continues to be registered in the electoral roll and it is from this census that the database is drawn to carry out the draw for the formation of the polling stations.

According to the Electoral Board, the draw to designate the members of the Bureau takes place between the twenty-fifth and twenty-ninth days after the call for elections and three days later the notification is delivered to the appointed. Therefore, on July 1, citizens called to be part of a polling station must have received the notification.

4. How can I avoid being a member of a polling station on July 23

Within the list of reasons that justify getting rid of the polling station is not cited in any case to have a scheduled trip with purchased tickets or with reservations of accommodation for vacations. Only those who justify their absence previously with one of the reasons included in the Organic Law of the General Electoral Regime (LOREG) may avoid the polling station.

See reasons to avoid the table

Drop-down

Personal causes:

  • Be over 65 and under 70.
  • Disability situation.
  • Absolute permanent disability and severe disability.
  • Temporary incapacity for work.
  • Being more than six months pregnant.
  • Having a risky pregnancy.
  • Internment in prisons or psychiatric hospitals.
  • Have been part of a table at least three times in the last ten years.
  • Restraining order against a voter registered at that school.
  • Injury, ailment or illness that prevents the exercise of functions.
  • Membership of religious confessions or communities with a regime of closure or incompatible with participation.
  • Change of habitual residence to another Autonomous Community.

Family causes:

  • Breastfeeding mothers with babies under nine months.
  • Care of children under 8 years of age or people with disabilities.
  • Care of a relative up to the second degree of consanguinity.
  • Family events of special relevance -such as weddings- that cannot be postponed up to the second degree of consanguinity.
  • Mother or father of children under 14 years of age when it is proven that the other parent cannot take care of it.

Professional causes:

  • Professionals who must provide their services to the Electoral Boards, the Courts and the Public Administrations.
  • Professions considered essential services such as doctors, health, civil protection, firefighters...
  • Directors of general information media and heads of information services.
  • Professionals who must participate in public events that cannot be suspended without significant economic damage.

You can process the excuse for not being at the polling station via the internet through the Excuses application or in person by going to the delegation of the Central Electoral Board (JEC) that corresponds to you according to the area in which you live. Check the list here.

5. WHAT HAPPENS IF I DON'T SHOW UP AT THE TABLE?

Citizens selected for this must report to the polling station on election day because if they fail to do so "they will incur a prison sentence of three months to one year or a fine of six to twenty-four months." As stated in article 143 of the Organic Law of the General Electoral Regime (LOREG), it is a crime "for abandonment or non-compliance at the tables".

Source: BOE (Official State Gazette), Central Electoral Board, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Government of Spain and Post Office.

Information: Elsa Martín and Cristina Luis

Visualization: Elsa Martín

Art direction: María González Manteca and Josetxu Piñeiro.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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