During an extraordinary plenary session of just five minutes, the Zaragoza City Council elected on Tuesday the members of the 907 tables that will be placed in the 151 polling stations in the Aragonese capital on July 23.
In total, among the more than half a million Zaragoza voters, 21,768 people have been selected among polling station presidents, members, alternates and reserves, from whom the final 2,721 members of the polling stations will emerge on election day. Each one will charge 70 euros for their work and service rendered to the democratic process on that summer Sunday.
The number of those elected today – around 4% of the census – is much higher than the around 14,500 people who were selected for the last electoral appointment on May 28, given that on this occasion it has been decided to double the number of people on reserve , which has gone from 7 to 15 for each table. Both substitutes and reserves will have to appear first thing in the morning at the schools, although they will only occupy the table if someone fails and does not go to school.
According to the head of the Office of Organization and General Services, Ana Carmen Corral, the decision to double this figure has been taken in anticipation of situations of absence and excuses admitted by the Zone Electoral Board as this appointment coincides with the vacation period. “Hopefully with this we can cover all the tables,” she said.
Unlike other places, in the three Aragonese provincial capitals you cannot see the list of those chosen online. From now on, the administration machinery is set in motion so that, within a period of three days, the notifications reach the ‘lucky winners’ by hand through the Postal Service or the Local Police if there is any problem for them. locate them (they can even appear at the job of the person in question to deliver the notification) If the designated person cannot be located by these means, it will be the Official State Gazette that publishes the summons.
From its receipt, a period of seven days opens to present allegations. On this occasion, one more is added to the traditional ones to be exempt, such as having contracted a trip prior to May 30, as established by the Central Electoral Board.
However, not every trip or reservation is valid as a defense. The citizen in question must justify that the cancellation “causes economic damage or serious disruption to the applicant” and document it. In the following five days, the designee will be informed whether or not the claim presented is accepted.
“Everyone must fulfill their duty, because if they don’t then come the problems with sanctions, with fines of 6 to 24 months or imprisonment of 3 to 12 months. Let them know that they have a party that day, five hours the next and that we try to make it as less burdensome as possible”, Corral pointed out. The set of selectable voters are excluded, by law, those over 70 years of age and those who cannot read and write.
As in many other parts of Spain, these draws and the final composition of the polling stations are very pending in the most touristy areas of the community. Especially in places like the Benasque Valley, where massive sports activities are scheduled for that weekend, such as the Gran Trail Aneto-Posets, which usually attracts around 12,000 people.
“If a head chef, who has his restaurant with the tables already reserved, is called and has to go, the truth is that it will be a tremendous blow, because that cook cannot be replaced like that by good means,” said José María. Ciria, president of the Valle de Benasque Business Tourism Association.
The same is happening in the hotel sector, as the director of Inturmark Hotels, Pedro Marco, pointed out to Aragón TV, who employs 130 people in Jaca these dates, many of them waiters, for whom it is difficult to find a substitute. “It is very difficult for us to find people for the summer, and if they coincide in several departments, it could be a very difficult issue to resolve,” he details. That is why they ask that these workers become considered among the group of essential people who are exempt from going to the tables.
