City councils can begin this Saturday, October 31, the drawing of electoral tables for the legislative elections of November 29, a procedure that will activate the call for 549,297 people between titulars and substitutes.
The designation corresponds to each council and is carried out by public draw with any random mechanism. The competence is attributed to the Municipal Plenary, although the act can be held before the Local Government Board if that function has been delegated.
Deadlines closed and notifications underway
City councils have until November 4 to complete the draws. Afterwards, the chosen people must be notified within the following three days, that is, until November 7, although a later notice will not invalidate the designation.
Along with the notification, an instruction manual will be delivered. Each table will have a president and two members, but the draw does not select only three people: it also includes two substitutes for each position, so each table is made up of nine designated people in total.
All of them, including the substitutes, are summoned at 8:00 a.m. on November 29 at their polling station.
More than 61,000 tables, fixed excuses and foreseen sanctions
Pending possible changes in the census, it is planned to enable 61,033 electoral tables, about 700 more than on 23J. This deployment forces Spanish city councils to call a total of 549,297 people, compared to the 543,000 in the last elections.
The obligation to attend is general, although the law allows alleging excuses in certain cases. Once the notification is received, those designated will have seven days to present allegations, and the final word will be with the Zone Electoral Board.
Since the last elections, the boards can admit as an excuse having contracted a trip or a vacation stay before the call whose cancellation causes economic damage or a serious disruption, provided it is documented.
The Electoral Law also establishes sanctions for those who do not appear or abandon their functions without legitimate cause. The president, the members and their substitutes who fail to comply with their obligations may incur a prison sentence of three months to one year or a fine of six to twenty-four months.
Who enters the draw and how much they will earn
The ballot box includes people registered in the corresponding electoral section who are under 70 years old and can read and write. From the age of 65, resignation can be expressed within a period of seven days.
Those who come of age between the formation of the lists and the voting, nor the candidates in the elections, do not participate. The president of the polling station, in addition, must accredit a Bachelor's degree or a second-degree Vocational Training degree, or subsidiarily a School Graduate or equivalent.
Polling station members will receive a fee of 75 euros for directing the voting and carrying out the count for the Congress and the Senate, five euros more than in the July 2023 elections. Employed workers and civil servants will also have paid leave for the entire day if the voting day is a working day and a five-hour reduction in their working day the following day.
The designation for an electoral process does not imply automatic continuity in the next one, although the draw can re-elect the same person in consecutive calls.
