On July 23, general elections will be held in Spain. The appointment coincides in the middle of summer, after Pedro Sánchez decided to advance the elections before exhausting the legislature in November. More than 37 million Spaniards, of which more than 1.6 million will do so for the first time, are called to the polls to elect the new Prime Minister, and thus determine the political course of Spain for the next four years.
Voters have two ways to exercise their right to vote: in person and by mail. When they do it in person, they have to go personally to the centers designated for this on election day and cast their vote at the polls. Voting by mail allows voting to be cast in advance without the need to physically go to the polling stations.
It is expected that on this occasion, a greater number of citizens will opt for this electoral formula, since the coincidence of the date of the elections in the middle of summer could encourage more active participation.
Both modalities of voting require the previous identification of the voters to verify their identity. As a general rule, we usually use the National Identity Document (DNI) to do so. However, in certain cases, it is also allowed to identify yourself with other official documents, such as your passport or driver’s license. Does the same thing happen in elections? Can we identify ourselves with the driver’s license, either in physical format or through the miDGT.es mobile application, when exercising the right to vote?
Organic Law 5/1985, of June 19, on the Electoral Regime establishes the regulatory framework for the regulation of general elections in Spain. This law is essential to guarantee transparency, impartiality and equity in electoral processes. In article 85 it makes implicit reference to the identification of voters.
The aforementioned article establishes that “the identification of the voter will be carried out by means of a National Identity Document, passport or driver’s license, in which the holder’s photograph appears or, in addition, in the case of foreigners, with the residence card”.
Therefore, although the driver’s license is not a document created with the purpose of identifying people, it can sometimes be a valid means of identification. So we can go to the polling station or the Post Office -if we request to vote by mail- with said document to prove our identity without having to do it with the DNI or passport.
In March 2020, coinciding with the home confinement due to the covid pandemic, the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) launched the miDGT.es mobile application to expedite administrative procedures. The application also has the attraction that you can carry your driving license in digital format. Since then, more than 8.3 million drivers, according to what Tráfico announced at the end of 2022, have downloaded the app.
Yes, just like the physical driver’s license that we all receive when obtaining or renewing a license, the digital driver’s license is valid to exercise the right to vote. The website elecciones.generales23j, of the Ministry of the Interior, where citizens can find all the information related to the electoral process, specifies the documents accepted to prove the identity of voters. They are the following:
Thus, the Ministry of the Interior places special emphasis on the fact that the card downloaded in the Traffic mobile application is also a valid document to identify yourself.
In all cases, it is required that the documents be original -photocopies are not valid-, but it does not matter that they are expired. Although the effective date is expired, the regulations allow the voter to exercise their right to vote.
With regard to voting by mail, all these documents are also valid, including the driver’s license in digital format.
