Spain: voting by mail doesn't excuse you from election duty
Spain's Electoral Law does not exempt postal voters from serving on an election board: it only prevents in-person voting. Some cite allowances of up to 50 euros and fines of 30,000 pesetas.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Voting by mail does not exempt you from serving as a board chair or member
Requesting a postal vote to dodge election board duty doesn't work. Spain's Organic Law 5/1985 of 19 June on the General Electoral Regime is explicit in articles 72 and 73: asking for the documentation to vote remotely only prevents you from casting your ballot in person on election day, but it does not remove the voter from the draw held by town council plenary sessions among all registered residents under 70 who can read and write. Anyone who believes the certified envelope is a get-out-of-jail card will get a surprise on Sunday.
The confusion is understandable. Voting by mail is associated with being away, and being away is one of the grounds the Electoral Board may accept to excuse someone from the duty. But the law does not presume it. You must file an exemption request with documentation proving your absence, and even then the answer may be no. The postal vote, on its own, does not open that door.
What the law says about postal voting and election boards
The procedure is more cumbersome than it seems. Requesting a postal vote requires going in person to a post office, then receiving the documentation at home and handing over the envelope in person with your ID card. Two visits, minimum. And all that just to stay on the list of candidates to chair or sit on a board.
Some argue the system has an extra trap: substitutes are called up earlier when the designated member has requested a postal vote. Accumulated experience suggests the plan leaks. In the first election Aznar won, a postal voter ended up as board chair in his village and, on top of that, could not vote at the board because he had already voted remotely.
Election day numbers: allowances, fines and hours
The financial compensation is not a prize. Allowances for chairing or serving on a board range from 3,000 pesetas to 50 euros, depending on the role. The day stretches beyond twelve hours, from the board's setup to the vote count. It's not a weekend, it's a whole day lost.
The penalty for not showing up is more serious. The fine for unjustified absence is around 30,000 pesetas. For it to apply, the substitutes and the rest of the chain must fail first. The probability exists, even if it isn't high.
Strategies for dodging board duty: from sick leave to a note from the boss
The repertoire of tricks is wide. From not opening the door to the postman or answering the intercom — the certified notification leaves a trail, but the local police may also show up with the letter in hand — to asking your boss for a paper certifying a training course out of town that weekend. A miracle worker, according to those who have tried it.
Another route is a formal appeal to the Electoral Board. If it is denied, two options remain: not show up and hope the substitutes fill the gap, or show up and hope someone wants to stay. The first can have consequences if the board is suspended.
The profile of those chosen: young, new and recently registered residents
The draw is not as random as it seems. The widespread perception is that it falls more often on newcomers to the electoral roll, young people and those who have just changed address. One case illustrates the pattern: a mother and son appointed chair and member in a town of 20,000 inhabitants they had moved to six months earlier.
The explanation going around is that the aim is to get newcomers hooked on voting. There is no official confirmation of that criterion, but the cases keep repeating.
The notification that never arrives and the census that knows everything
The electoral roll includes a field with education level, coded from 0 to 4, from illiterate to university-educated. That data fuels the temptation to declare yourself illiterate to dodge board duty. In practice, the verification is unclear.
Notification is another front. If the certified letter is not collected, you are deemed notified under Law 30/1992. The notice in the mailbox is enough. And if the postman leaves no receipt, as happens in some municipalities where the local police deliver in person, the margin narrows.
With all this, the postal vote as an anti-board shield is just another myth of election day. The law does not provide for it, experience disproves it and the draw goes on. Next time someone brags about having dodged board duty this way, it's worth asking whether they were truly excused or just got lucky.
Requesting a postal vote to dodge election board duty doesn't work. Spain's Organic Law 5/1985 of 19 June on the General Electoral Regime is explicit in articles 72 and 73: asking for the documentation to vote remotely only prevents you from casting your ballot in person on election day, but it does not remove the voter from the draw held by town council plenary sessions among all registered residents under 70 who can read and write. Anyone who believes the certified envelope is a get-out-of-jail card will get a surprise on Sunday.
The confusion is understandable. Voting by mail is associated with being away, and being away is one of the grounds the Electoral Board may accept to excuse someone from the duty. But the law does not presume it. You must file an exemption request with documentation proving your absence, and even then the answer may be no. The postal vote, on its own, does not open that door.
What the law says about postal voting and election boards
The procedure is more cumbersome than it seems. Requesting a postal vote requires going in person to a post office, then receiving the documentation at home and handing over the envelope in person with your ID card. Two visits, minimum. And all that just to stay on the list of candidates to chair or sit on a board.
Some argue the system has an extra trap: substitutes are called up earlier when the designated member has requested a postal vote. Accumulated experience suggests the plan leaks. In the first election Aznar won, a postal voter ended up as board chair in his village and, on top of that, could not vote at the board because he had already voted remotely.
Election day numbers: allowances, fines and hours
The financial compensation is not a prize. Allowances for chairing or serving on a board range from 3,000 pesetas to 50 euros, depending on the role. The day stretches beyond twelve hours, from the board's setup to the vote count. It's not a weekend, it's a whole day lost.
The penalty for not showing up is more serious. The fine for unjustified absence is around 30,000 pesetas. For it to apply, the substitutes and the rest of the chain must fail first. The probability exists, even if it isn't high.
Strategies for dodging board duty: from sick leave to a note from the boss
The repertoire of tricks is wide. From not opening the door to the postman or answering the intercom — the certified notification leaves a trail, but the local police may also show up with the letter in hand — to asking your boss for a paper certifying a training course out of town that weekend. A miracle worker, according to those who have tried it.
Another route is a formal appeal to the Electoral Board. If it is denied, two options remain: not show up and hope the substitutes fill the gap, or show up and hope someone wants to stay. The first can have consequences if the board is suspended.
The profile of those chosen: young, new and recently registered residents
The draw is not as random as it seems. The widespread perception is that it falls more often on newcomers to the electoral roll, young people and those who have just changed address. One case illustrates the pattern: a mother and son appointed chair and member in a town of 20,000 inhabitants they had moved to six months earlier.
The explanation going around is that the aim is to get newcomers hooked on voting. There is no official confirmation of that criterion, but the cases keep repeating.
The notification that never arrives and the census that knows everything
The electoral roll includes a field with education level, coded from 0 to 4, from illiterate to university-educated. That data fuels the temptation to declare yourself illiterate to dodge board duty. In practice, the verification is unclear.
Notification is another front. If the certified letter is not collected, you are deemed notified under Law 30/1992. The notice in the mailbox is enough. And if the postman leaves no receipt, as happens in some municipalities where the local police deliver in person, the margin narrows.
With all this, the postal vote as an anti-board shield is just another myth of election day. The law does not provide for it, experience disproves it and the draw goes on. Next time someone brags about having dodged board duty this way, it's worth asking whether they were truly excused or just got lucky.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (26 replies).
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