If you have been a member of a polling station for the next Catalan elections and you cannot go, the deadline to present allegations begins from the day you receive the communication. That is, those designated (a total of nine people for each table, since there are two members and one president for each table plus the two substitutes for each position) have seven days from receipt to present allegations.
Starting on April 16, city councils will begin to notify those people who, through a lottery, have been selected to be part of a polling station.
In the case of receiving the notification and not being able to attend the polling station, an allegation must be presented, but it is important to know that not just any excuse will do.
There are personal reasons to be exempt from going to a polling station: being between 65 and 70 years old (those over 70 are excluded from the draw); disability situation; inability; pregnancy from six months and the corresponding period of maternity leave; confinement in penitentiary centers or psychiatric hospitals; having been part of a polling station at least three times in the last ten years; or be a victim of a crime, for which a prohibition on approaching the convicted or investigated person has been issued, and that he or she appears on the census of the same electoral college.
Being a mother, during the period of natural or artificial breastfeeding, until the baby is nine months old, directly and continuously caring for children under eight years of age or people with physical, mental or sensory disabilities are also some of the justifications that exempt people selected to go to a polling station.
Other justifications are: being the mother or father of minors under fourteen years of age, when it is proven that the other parent cannot take care of the minor during election day, or having an injury, illness or physical or mental illness that, although it has not given rise to a declaration of incapacity for work prevents the exercise of the functions of a member of a polling station.
They also exempt from going to the polling station if they have a surgical intervention or relevant clinical tests on the day of the vote, in the days immediately before, or on the day following it, provided that they cannot be postponed or belong to confessions or religious communities in those in which the ideology or the closure regime is contrary or incompatible with participation in a polling station.
Regarding professional causes, a series of circumstances are foreseen if these coincide with voting day: those who must provide their services to the Electoral Boards, the courts and public administrations that have electoral functions are exempt; those who must provide essential services; general information media directors and heads of information services; and professionals who must participate in public events.
Citizens can present their excuse in person at the offices of the corresponding Zone Electoral Board and it can also be done online through an electoral administration application. For this procedure, the Cl@ve system is required. In both cases, those designated must identify themselves, fill out a request form and provide documentation that justifies the alleged cause.
Whoever is designated and does not comply with any of the aforementioned assumptions has the obligation to attend or could incur a criminal offense. The electoral law (LOREG) in its article 143, within the section on electoral crimes, establishes a punishment for abandonment or non-compliance at polling stations with a prison sentence of three months to one year or a fine of six to twenty-four months. Both punishments generate criminal records, which are canceled after a period of time. The prohibition of the right to vote on a temporary basis is also contemplated.
It is the judge who decides the length of the sentence and the amounts. Although the law does not specify ranges, financial penalties of between 2,000 and 7,000 euros and prison sentences and withdrawal of the right to vote for a few months have recently been imposed. The criteria for setting such penalties are based on the seriousness of each act, which may vary, and the economic capacity of the accused (in this case, with regard to fines).
