The Council of Ministers has given the green light this Tuesday to the "Instruction Manual for the people who make up the electoral tables," a document revised and ratified by the Central Electoral Board (JEC) on October 22, whose purpose is to organize the development of the elections to the General Courts on November 29.
The Ministry of the Interior has taken on the updating and drafting of this guide, which complies with the provisions of the Organic Law of the General Electoral Regime and has the support of the JEC. As this department explained in an informative note, the manual aims to facilitate the understanding of the rules and "guarantee the correct development of the electoral process."
Among the points covered in the text are the draws to designate the people who will be part of the electoral tables, which must be held in the plenary sessions of each Town Hall between October 31 and November 4. The designation will then be communicated to the selected citizens, who will receive a copy of the manual along with the notification, of which 900,000 copies will be printed.
In the autonomous communities with co-official languages, the manuals will be published in bilingual format. In the case of the Valley of Arán (Lleida), the guides will be distributed in Spanish, Aranese, and Catalan.
A guide structured in three blocks
The publication brings together in a first block the "essential and indispensable content" of the electoral day, from the constitution of the table to the closing of the ballot boxes; in a second section, it addresses "incidents" and "peculiarities," and in a third section, it incorporates models of documentation such as minutes, envelopes, or forms.
Within the content classified as "indispensable," it is established, for example, that those who exercise the presidency, the members, or the substitutes must be present at the polling place at 08:00 hours, while the representatives of the candidacies will have the following half hour to join.
Regarding the allowances for the members of the table, the Executive agreed last June to increase the compensation by five euros, which goes from 70 to 75 euros. The substitutes will only have the right to receive this amount if they ultimately assume the status of regular members during the electoral day.
Likewise, the manual indicates that the table must check before the start of the voting the status of all electoral material: the seals of the ballot boxes, the booths, the placement of ballots and envelopes, as well as the census lists.
In relation to the people who have requested complementary material in braille, the table must have the list where these voters are recorded and the envelope with the corresponding braille material. If this is not available, it will be necessary to communicate it to the Electoral Board of the Zone before the voting begins.
For cases where the voter is deaf, a sign language user, or deafblind, has an intellectual disability or comprehension difficulties, or presents a physical disability or reduced mobility, the guide incorporates specific action protocols in order to ensure the exercise of the right to vote of these people.
Voting hours and counting rules
The manual sets the opening and closing hours of the polling stations on November 29, which will be from 09:00 to 20:00 hours. In addition, it reminds that the act of voting is "personal" and "non-transferable" and that "no one can be represented by another person."
If the voter cannot read or, due to a disability, cannot choose the ballot, insert it into the envelope, or hand it to the president, the guide specifies that they may request the help of a person they trust.
At the time of voting, once the table verifies that the citizen is on the census list, they will hand the closed envelope to the president, who, without removing it from the view of the public, will loudly pronounce the name of the voter and return it so that they can deposit it in the ballot box.
Once the voting is closed at 20:00 hours, the presidency of the table will introduce the envelopes with the ballots sent by mail into the corresponding ballot box. Next, the people who make up the table and the scrutineers with the right to vote at that table will be able to vote.
Subsequently, the counting will begin: first, the counting of the ballots for the Congress of Deputies will proceed, and then the votes for the Senate will be counted.