The high temperatures that the first heat wave of the year is leaving, especially in the southern half of the Peninsula, have set our sights on July 23rd. More than 35 million citizens are called to the polls in the first general elections of democracy to be held in summer. Some elections that, predictably, will leave unusual images of polling stations receiving voters with the suffocating heat typical of this time of year. Will it be possible to vote above 40 degrees without the risk of suffering a heat stroke?
Yesterday he moved tab Add. The formation led by Yolanda Díaz proposed to the Central Electoral Board to extend voting hours, for example until ten at night, two hours later than expected. At the moment, neither in the Central Electoral Board nor in the Ministry of the Interior is this option on the table. Not even under study, although it is not ruled out that as the day of the elections approaches, and with a more reliable weather forecast, a series of recommendations can be issued.
From the Central Electoral Board they refer to article 84 of the organic law of the General Electoral Regime (Loreg), which states that “once the act of constitution of the table has been extended, voting will begin at nine o’clock, which will continue without interruption until twenty hours”. In other words, changing the voting hours would require a modification – now impossible – of the organic law. The rule states that “only for reasons of force majeure may the act of voting not start or be suspended once it has started.” Legal sources explain that these major causes correspond to the impossibility of constituting the table, and that it is hardly legal to be able to keep the polls open until 10:00 p.m.
Therefore, the most viable scenario today involves issuing a series of recommendations, as was done with the elections held during the pandemic. So, to voters over 65 or vulnerable, the Government recommended that they go to schools “preferably” between 10 and 12 hours. And those with “active or suspected illness”, between 7 and 8 p.m., at the last minute of the voting process.
The schools or sports centers where the polls will be installed are not closed tightly during the summer months, they recall from the Central Electoral Board. Support activities and camps that have air conditioning systems are carried out at the facilities. In addition, some city councils have already announced that they will buy fans to make the day more bearable for voters and polling station members, who will have to spend more than 12 hours at polling stations.