Madrid, Jul 3 (EFE).- The documentation to vote by mail begins to arrive as of today and the voters who have received it can now go to the Post Office to deposit their ballots for the general elections on the 23rd of July, although they will have to prove their identity.
From Monday until July 16, the postmen will deliver the envelopes and ballot papers to the citizens who have chosen to vote by mail at the address they have specified or, if they have not done so, where they are registered.
And it is that some of the applicants for the vote by mail have indicated as the address the second residence where they spend the holidays and will be able to exercise their right to vote at the post office closest to this seasonal address.
However, until July 13, you can continue requesting a vote by mail and the deadline to deposit it in the offices ends on July 19, three days before the elections.
The DNI or key supporting document in these elections
As stated in the electoral law, voters will have to prove their identity when they receive the documentation but, as a novelty, in these elections it will also be mandatory when they go to cast their vote at the Post Office.
The regulations do not specify whether the delivery of the postal vote must be done in person, however, the Central Electoral Board (JEC) has recently resolved after the frauds that occurred in Melilla and other locations that for these elections it must be done in this way, showing the DNI or other valid documentation that proves the identity of the voter.
And the JEC insists; the envelopes that are collected from the Post Office mailboxes will not be valid.
Possible incidents have a solution
If a voter is not at home when the mailman goes to make the delivery, a notice will be left and they will have to go to the corresponding post office to register there and receive their envelopes and ballots.
In the same way, if someone is incapacitated for justified reasons to go to cast the vote at the office, the JEC has established that another person can do it in their place as long as they deliver a signed authorization and a copy of the DNI or other official identification document. .
More than a million and a half requests
As of June 27, 1,550,000 requests to vote by mail had already been registered, according to CCOO data and confirmed by the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, during his interview in “El Hormiguero”.
CCOO points out that it is a record figure in general elections, and it is expected that it will still be much higher, since the application period has not yet closed.
In the municipal and regional elections on May 28, more than 984,000 citizens sent their vote by mail, 6.4% more than in the previous 2019 elections.
The period to request a vote by mail is still open
Voters who want to vote by mail and have not yet done so may do so until July 13 by means of an application that can be downloaded on the website of the Ministry of the Interior and submitted electronically on the Post Office page or in person at the Offices.