The city councils will be able to begin this Saturday, October 31, the drawing of the electoral boards for the legislative elections next November 29, in which more than half a million citizens will be summoned among regular members and alternates.
According to the current regulations, the designation of those who make up each electoral board rests with the city councils, which must carry out a public drawing by any random system. This function corresponds to the municipal Plenary, although it may be carried out before the Local Government Board if the Plenary has delegated that authority to it.
The town councils have until November 4 to carry out these drawings. The people chosen by the Plenary will be notified of their designation to be part of an Electoral Board within the three days following the drawing, that is, until November 7. If the notification were delayed, that mismatch does not invalidate the appointment. Along with the communication, an Instruction Manual is delivered.
Each electoral board is made up of a chairperson and two members. However, not only three people are appointed per board, but nine in total, since two alternates are also chosen for each position. Both the regular members and the alternates must appear at 8:00 a.m. on November 29 at the corresponding polling place.
More than 61,000 boards and nearly 550,000 appointed
Pending possible changes in the census, the formation of 61,033 electoral boards is expected for these elections, about 700 more than at the 23J event. This means that the city councils will have to call 549,297 people, compared with the 543,000 who were required in the previous general elections.
The performance of these positions on the electoral boards is mandatory, although there are established grounds that allow the designated person to submit excuses if they cannot attend on voting day. The final decision on whether or not to accept those claims rests with the Zona Electoral Board. After receiving the notification, those designated have seven days to present their reasons.
Since the last elections, the Zona Electoral Boards may accept as justification for not being part of an electoral board having contracted, prior to the calling of the elections, a trip or vacation stay whose cancellation entails an economic loss or a serious disruption, provided that it is documented.
In any case, not attending the polling station without legitimate cause has consequences. According to the Electoral Law (LOREG), "the chairperson and the members of the polling stations as well as their respective substitutes who cease to attend or perform their functions, abandon them without legitimate cause or fail without justified cause to comply with the obligations of excuse or prior notice imposed on them by this Law, shall incur a prison sentence of three months to one year or a fine of six to twenty-four months".
Who can be elected and who is excluded
All persons registered in the census of the corresponding electoral section who are under 70 years of age and know how to read and write take part in the draw. However, those who are 65 years of age or older may resign within seven days from when they learn of their appointment.
Excluded from the draw are those who reach the age of majority between the preparation of the census lists and the voting day, as well as the people who stand as candidates in those elections.
The chairperson of the station must hold the Bachiller or second-degree Vocational Training qualification or, failing that, the Graduado Escolar or an equivalent qualification.
Allowances, work permits and repetition in future processes
Members of the polling stations will receive an allowance of 75 euros for the voting day and the counting of the ballots for the Congress and the Senate, five euros more than in the July 2023 elections.
In addition, self-employed workers and public employees who are part of a station are entitled to paid leave for the entire day of the elections, if it is a working day. In any case, they also have a reduction of five hours in their working day on the following day.
Designation to serve on a station in a specific electoral process does not imply that it will be repeated automatically in subsequent calls, although nothing prevents, by chance in the draw, the same person from being chosen in consecutive processes.