The general elections on November 29 are still far away and Isabel Díaz Ayuso and Santiago Abascal have already cast suspicion on the postal vote. The president of the Community of Madrid asked citizens "not to even think" about using it and, a day later, again recommended them to vote in person at the ballot box. The leader of the far-right Vox has also called for in-person voting because, he said, he does not trust what the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, might do. Neither has presented evidence that electoral fraud is being prepared.
The offensive has opened a visible contradiction in the Popular Party (PP). Its national spokesperson, Borja Sémper, defends that the system is "guaranteeing" and encourages voting both in person and by mail. The popular spokesperson in Congress, Ester Muñoz, says instead that she understands Ayuso's suspicions and points to former Correos executives close to Sánchez. The president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has not publicly disavowed the Madrid leader.
The discussion affects a right exercised by almost 2.5 million people in the 2023 general elections. Among them were voters from all parties. Ayuso's warning may especially reach those who will be out of their locality on 29N or will not be able to go to their polling station and need to resort to Correos to vote.
Ayuso insists and the far-right Vox takes suspicions further
Ayuso linked her misgivings to a possible "adulteration" of the census and Sánchez's alleged "tricks". This Tuesday, after Génova publicly backed postal voting, she maintained her recommendation to go to the ballot box and called the president a "trickster" and "cheater". Abascal has insinuated that the Government could manipulate the elections. Vox's spokesperson in Congress, Pepa Rodríguez de Millán, added accusations about the PSOE primaries and recalled cases of alleged vote buying in some localities. None of these arguments prove an operation to alter the results of 29N.
Two distinct issues are also being mixed. Ayuso and Vox question the growth of the census due to nationalizations linked to the so-called "grandchildren's law" and due to the regularization of foreigners. To vote in a general election, one must have Spanish nationality and be listed in the electoral census. Obtaining a residence permit, by itself, does not grant that right. The PP has gone to the Central Electoral Board to raise its doubts about the census, a foreseen channel for requesting explanations and resolutions. The formation of a census and the custody of votes sent by mail are different procedures.
The Prime Minister has responded by asking for "absolute tranquility". Sánchez recalled this Tuesday that postal voting has been used for years with guarantees and suggested that those who now question it perhaps do not see their victory "so evident". The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, was harsher. He considered that one must be "very evil or ignorant" to sow doubts about the cleanliness of this procedure and reproached the PP for governing numerous institutions thanks to the same electoral system that some of its leaders question.
The comparison with Donald Trump and 'Trumpism' is evident. Before the 2020 US elections, the then president repeatedly attacked postal voting and anticipated that it could be used to rig the result. The US Congressional commission that investigated the assault on the Capitol documented that discredit campaign. In Spain, socialist spokesperson Patxi López has called Ayuso's statements "undemocratic" and has demanded that Feijóo disavow them. The political similarity lies in sowing distrust before voting takes place, even if the rules and electoral institutions of the two countries are different.
The PP defends the system and at the same time fuels doubts
Sémper has asked to vote for the PP "by land, sea and air, in person and by mail". He has also said that he "fully" trusts the electoral system. His defense clashes with Ayuso's insistence, although the spokesperson has resisted acknowledging that the Madrid president is questioning the cleanliness of the elections. Muñoz has gone a step further by stating that he understands that there are citizens with doubts due to the involvement of certain executives in Correos. Suspicions about these individuals are not proof of ballot manipulation.
The Chief Operating Officer of Correos, Olga García, has detailed the controls for the shipment. Each application goes through the Electoral Census Office, which verifies the voter's registration. The documentation is delivered by identifying the recipient and the vote is deposited in a post office, also after identification. Certified envelopes are registered and travel under custody, with tracking codes, seals, and security measures. Correos delivers them to the polling stations on election day.
There, the census certificate is checked before the voting envelope, which remains sealed, is placed in the ballot box. Their ballot is mixed with those deposited in person and counted in the same scrutiny, before the polling station members and the interveners. Furthermore, anyone who has requested to vote by mail and is registered as such in the census will no longer be able to vote again in person. Supervision corresponds to the electoral administration; the Central Electoral Board is composed, among other members, of eight magistrates of the Supreme Court.
The deadline to request a mail-in vote is open until November 19 and Correos sets November 25 as the last day to deliver it to its offices. This newspaper has published a guide with the procedures and the journey of each ballot. While Ayuso continues to ask for in-person voting, the national spokesperson for her party himself asks PP voters to also use Correos.
