The general elections of July 23 will be unprecedented due to its date, in the middle of summer and therefore in the holiday period. This will mean that many citizens called to the polls will not be at their usual address, either traveling or in a second residence. In these circumstances, voting by mail is more decisive than ever, a voting method that has been used by practically a million citizens in the municipal and regional elections this Sunday, 6.4% more than the number of votes by mail in the previous elections of 2019.
Once the electoral call has been published this Tuesday in the Official State Gazette (BOE), you can now request a certificate of registration in the census, which is the document that will allow you to do so. Another date that has many citizens in suspense is when it will be known who will be part of the polling station: it will be at the end of June. These are the steps to request a vote by mail and how the ballots are received at home and sent:
– The vote by mail can be requested until July 13. This procedure may be done up to ten days before the electoral date, at any office of the Postal Service, as established by the organic law of the General Electoral Regime.
– The request must be made in person and with the national identity document at a Post Office.
– In case of illness or disability that prevents the personal formulation of the application, duly accredited, it may be made on behalf of the voter by another person authorized by a notary or consular authority.
– The application form can be downloaded on the website of the Ministry of the Interior and submitted electronically on the Post Office page or in person at an office.
– How do you get the vote by mail at home. The Electoral Census Office will send the voters by certified mail, starting July 2 and up to the 18th of the same month, the ballot papers and electoral envelopes, along with the certificate of registration in the census, and an envelope in the which will include the address of the Bureau where it corresponds to vote. An explanatory sheet will be attached to the above documents. The notice of receipt accrediting the receipt of the documentation referred to in the previous paragraph must be personally signed by the interested party after proving his identity.
– Once the vote has been sent, it is no longer possible to vote in person at the polling station. Once the ballots have been chosen -in the case of 23-J there will be two votes: Congress and Senate- the voter must insert them in the corresponding envelopes, close them to put them in the other envelope addressed to the Electoral Board, where they will also include the certificate of registration in the census. This envelope must be sent by certified mail in any case before the third day prior to the holding of the elections, that is, until July 2. This envelope does not require postage. Once the vote has been sent, the voter can no longer vote in person.
The Postal Service will keep all correspondence addressed to the Polling Stations until the day of the vote and will transfer it to said Stations at nine in the morning. Likewise, it will continue to transfer information that can be received on said day, up to 20:00 hours of the same. The Postal Service will keep a record of all the documentation received, which will be available to the Electoral Boards. Envelopes received after 8:00 pm on the day set for voting will be sent to the Zone Electoral Board.
