Postal voting from Spain

The deadline for depositing postal votes has been extended until 25 May, within the usual post office opening hours

Postal voting will be available for the 28 May elections. The application period is from 4 April to 18 May. You can apply:

  1. Through the postal website if you have an electronic certificate.
  2. At any Post Office, requesting the voting form, or downloading it from this page. Once filled in, you must hand it in at any post office in person, proving your identification to the employee there, who will require it to verify your signature by means of the presentation of your ID card, passport or driving licence (as they include a photograph of the holder and signature; photocopies are not admissible). “It is possible for the identity of a foreign voter to be accredited by means of the presentation of an official document issued by the Spanish authorities or the State of origin that includes the signature and photo of the voter and accredits the voter’s identity” (Agreement JEC 7/4/2011).

Remember: the deadline for applying to vote by post is 18 May

The Post Office services will forward the duly completed application to the Electoral Census Office, which will make the corresponding entry on the census lists. Therefore, people who apply for a postal vote, once their applications have been accepted, CAN NO LONGER VOTE IN PERSON.

The Electoral Census Office will then send an envelope with the following documentation to the address indicated on the application form by registered post:

  • One ballot paper from each political formation running in each of the electoral processes that have been called.
  • A voting envelope or envelopes.
  • The census registration certificate.
  • An envelope containing the address of the polling station where you are entitled to vote.
  • An explanatory sheet.

This documentation must be received by the person who has requested it following provision of proof of identity. If the person isn’t at home, he/she will have to pick it up in person at the corresponding Post Office.

Once you have chosen the ballot paper for each process, place it in the appropriate voting envelope (you don’t have to include a ballot paper if you wish to abstain) and seal it. The voting envelope or envelopes and the census registration certificate will be enclosed in the envelope addressed to the polling station and sent by registered post by 24 May at the latest. This delivery is free of charge, as the Ministry of the Interior will be responsible for compensating the postal operator for these deliveries through the electoral budget.

The Post Office will deliver any mail which is received up to 8:00 pm on election day to the polling stations. Envelopes received after 8:00 pm will be forwarded to the Area Electoral Board and destroyed.

How are the postal votes mixed with the votes cast in the ballot boxes in person?

At 8:00 pm on 28 May, after the last person at the polling station has voted, the envelopes containing the ballot papers sent by post will be placed in their respective ballot box.

To do so, these are the steps to follow:

  • Open, one at a time, the envelopes sent to the Presiding Officer and check that they contain the registration census certificate and the postal vote envelope or envelopes.
  • Check that the voters are registered on the polling station’s electoral roll.
  • Place the corresponding voting envelope or envelopes in the ballot box.
  • Write down the voter on the numbered list of voters (this is done by the officers).

Postal voting from Spain