Electoral Board to Require Proof of Voting Municipality for 'Grandchild Law' Naturalized Citizens

The Central Electoral Board (JEC) has decided that citizens who obtained Spanish nationality through the 'Grandchild Law' must justify the municipality in which they wish to vote. This measure aims to bring greater transparency and motivation to the choice of electoral constituency, especially for those who did not previously reside in Spain.

## New Voting Requirement

The **Central Electoral Board (JEC)** has taken a further step to clarify the electoral process for beneficiaries of the **Democratic Memory Law**, popularly known as the **'Grandchild Law'**. From now on, those who have obtained Spanish nationality thanks to this law and reside abroad will have to justify the Spanish municipality to which they wish to link their vote. The **Electoral Census Office** has proposed a series of recommendations, which the JEC has adopted, to reinforce the requirements for determining the electoral constituency. This means that if a naturalized citizen under this law decides to register in a municipality other than their last known address in Spain, they must submit an explanatory declaration along with documentation supporting their choice.

## Rationale and Context of the Measure

This requirement is not new for all voters abroad. Since **2011**, a ministerial order has already stipulated that those who had previously resided in Spain must register in the municipality of their last residence. If they chose another, they had to provide justification. However, the peculiarity of the 'Grandchild Law' is that many of its beneficiaries have never lived in Spain but can benefit from it due to having ancestors who went into exile. Until now, these individuals could register in the municipality they considered of "greatest roots, their own or that of one of their ancestors" without needing justification. The **JEC** already warned in **July** that the determination of the electoral municipality must be "sufficiently motivated", especially if it did not correspond to the last domicile in Spain.

## Debate on the Overseas Census

The measure arises in a context where some town councils, such as **Tres Cantos** in Madrid, have requested audits of overseas census files. The reason is a notable increase in registrations in their municipality after the entry into force of the 'Grandchild Law', which raises doubts about the real connection of so many new voters with a town founded in **1991**, decades after the exiles that motivate the law. The **JEC** has also accepted the **Supreme Court**'s order to provisionally suspend the vote for those registered in the Electoral Census of Absent Residents (CERA) who obtained nationality through this law, unless they prove their descent from exiles. This underscores the need to verify the authenticity of ties to ensure the correct assignment of voters to their constituencies.