Bad news for citizens who are thinking of asking to vote by mail for the general elections on July 23 in order to avoid being called to form part of a polling station.
Despite widespread belief, requesting a vote by mail does not exempt us from being called to a polling station. Nor is it a justifiable reason for not showing up to the table on election day if we have been summoned.
As soon as a voter requests to vote by mail and the Board of Elections accepts their request, that person will no longer be able to vote in person on Election Day. This is done so that no one votes twice.
However, that voter is still registered in the electoral census, which is where the database is extracted from to carry out the draw for the polling stations.
For this reason, even if a person has asked to vote by mail, their name will continue on the list of citizens among whom the formation of the polling stations is raffled.
It may be the case that a citizen requests to vote by mail, is called to form part of a polling station and frees himself. But he will never be released from his obligation for having requested a vote by mail, but rather for one of the justified reasons included in the Organic Law of the General Electoral Regime (LOREG).
Among the reasons for avoiding being a member of a polling station are, for example, family events of special relevance -such as weddings- that cannot be postponed until the second degree of consanguinity.
Other reasons are caring for a dependent family member, working in a profession considered an essential service or being over 65 years of age.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project