Madrid/Seville, (EFE).- A total of 377,678 Andalusian voters have deposited their vote at the Post Office for the 23J elections, which represents 15.3 percent of the total, a record number in general elections and which places this community in second position.
The number of applicants for postal votes in Andalusia has increased by 72.2% in these elections compared to 2019. With 401,862 requests, of which 377,678 have finally materialized.
In Spain as a whole, more than 2.47 million voters have voted by mail, which represents 94.2% of the applications accepted. The highest ratio reached in a general election since 2008, that is, the first year with approved statistical records.
As Correos explains in a press release sent this Saturday, it represents 99.08% more than the total number of votes admitted in the general elections of April 2019 (1,241,716). And 82.06% more than in June 2016 (1,357,745). That, until now, marked the historical record in the number of votes by mail managed in the electoral processes of the Spanish democracy.
As Correos recalls, which believes that these records demonstrate the “resounding success” in the management of voting by mail, a total of 2,622,808 applications have been accepted for these elections. This also represents a new all-time high.
In this sense, the difference between requests and votes admitted has been 5.8%, the lowest ratio recorded in all electoral processes. Compared to 7.8% in April 2019, 6.6% in June 2016. And the average of 7.3% if the general elections held since 2008 are considered.
Madrid and Andalusia, the ones with the most votes by mail
By autonomous communities, Madrid is in first position in voting by mail, with 592,241 admitted. That is, close to 24% of the total, followed by Andalusia, with 377,678, 15.3%, and Catalonia, with 251,324, 10.2%.
Behind them are the Basque Country, with 204,815 admitted votes by mail, 8.3%; Castilla y León, with 171,126, 6.9%. Valencian Community, with 170,518, almost 6.9%; Galicia, with 139,068, 5.6%, and Castilla-La Mancha, with 102,903, 4.2%.
The list is completed by Aragon, with 88,731 votes; Canary Islands, with 79,745; Extremadura, with 59,069; Asturias, with 53,799; Murcia, with 49,111. Navarra with 44,908; Balearic Islands, with 34,355; Cantabria, with 22,283; La Rioja, with 19,897. And the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, with 5,262 and 5,102, respectively.
Reinforcements before the electoral process
For the 23-J elections, Correos has carried out more than 21,000 reinforcement contracts. Both for offices and for the delivery of shipments and the necessary tasks in logistics centers.
In addition, it has applied measures such as the extraordinary opening of offices on Saturday and Sunday. The extension of customer service hours until 10:00 p.m. in 654 offices throughout the country. The opening on local holidays, and the extension of hours throughout the network, particularly in tourist areas.
It has also made extraordinary deliveries of electoral mailings during the weekends. And it is working to coordinate the postal logistics network and deploy all the means. To ensure that the votes admitted until 2:00 p.m. yesterday are delivered on Sunday at the corresponding polling station.
Their collaboration extends to the distribution of census registration cards and electoral propaganda shipments. In addition to the communications to members of the Electoral Tables, I send the census list to the Town Halls. And collection of documentation on Sunday.
Specifically, it has distributed the 35,140,732 census cards sent by the National Statistics Institute (INE). To the homes of citizens with the right to vote this July 23.
Deployment for Election Day
In order to deliver the votes cast by post at the polling stations, Correos will establish a special logistics deployment, made up of more than 14,000 professionals, and will mobilize all the vehicles in its fleet necessary for the development of its mission.
When the polling stations open, a first team of staff from the public postal company will deliver the votes in custody at the 60,314 polling stations distributed in the 22,562 polling stations of the 8,131 municipalities in Spain.
A second group will deliver to the polling stations those votes by mail that could be received during the course of the day.
Finally, another will collect the so-called “third envelope”, with the final result of the scrutiny, from the polling stations of each and every one of the country’s polling stations. EFE