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Competences of the Electoral Census Office in the electoral process:

The main competences are:

(For the purposes of each election, the Electoral Census Office disseminates information online regarding all operations in the associated electoral period, with specific dates for each time-frame)

  • Sections, Polling stations and Electoral premises

    • In partnership with Municipal Councils, the Provincial Delegations of the Electoral Census Office determine the limits of the census sections, their premises and the polling stations to be used in the electoral process.

      Voters may submit claims against the make complaints relating to the demarcation carried out, before the corresponding Provincial Electoral Board.

  • Census in force and census correction during an electoral period

    • For each election the Electoral Census in force is used, this being the one closed on the first day of the month prior to the calling of elections, with records of those of legal age on polling day.

      Municipal Councils and Consulates maintain a service for querying the Electoral Census in force, its municipalities and demarcations, and anyone may make a claim regarding his or her census details. These claims may also be made directly to Provincial Delegations of the Electoral Census Office.

  • Sending of census cards

    • Once elections have been called, the Electoral Census Office sends each voter a census card with updated details of their registration in the Electoral Census in force, in which there is also information on the section, the polling station, the electoral premises where he or she should vote and the address.

  • Postal vote

    • The postal vote modalities sare as follows:

      1. Postal vote for voters resident in Spain, applied for from Spain

        Voters resident in Spain may apply to vote by post by completing an application form availablefrom any Spanish Post Office, and sending it to the Provincial Delegation of the Electoral Census Office of the province where he or she is registered. voters must sogn the application form and check whether the postal worker stamps and dates it as appropriate.

        Voters who request a postal vote are not able to vote in person at the polling station.

        The Provincial Delegation of the corresponding Electoral Census Office sends the voters, to their abode abroad as indicated in the request the documentation necessary for them to vote. Once the documents are received, voters should send their vote to the polling station, also by registered post.

      2. Postal vote for voters resident in Spain who are temporarily abroad

        Voters residents in Spain who are temporarily abroad, once the convocation has been made, and who anticipate remaining in that situation until polling day, and whish to take part in the elections must apply for a postal vote. They must therefore be registered in the Consular Registration register as non-residents and request the documentation necessary to exercise their right to vote from abroad from the corresponding Provincial Delegation of the Electoral Census Office. The said request must be submitted in person at the Consular Office or Consular Section of the Embassy.

        The Provincial Delegation of the corresponding Electoral Census Office sends the voters, to their abode abroad as indicated in the request the documentation necessary for them to vote. Once the documents are received, voters should send their vote to the polling station, also by registered post.

      3. Postal vote for voters resident abroad in non-municipal elections

        In the elections to Deputies, Senators, members of the Legislative Assemblies of the Autonomous Communities, members of the Assemblies of the Autonomous Cities of Ceuta and Melilla and Deputies to the European Parliament, when in the latter case the election in Spain is chosen, the Provincial Delegations of the Electoral Census Office will send ex officio to the registration address of each person of Spanish nationality registered in the census of resident-absentee voters living abroad the following documentation.

        • The voting envelope or, where appropriate, the voting envelopes for each process called, with adequate security systems.
        • Two identical certificates of being registered in the census of absent resident voters living abroad, except in the case of concurrent elections with scrutiny in different electoral boards, in which the corresponding ones will be sent based on said electoral concurrence.
        • The envelope or envelopes in which the address of the competent Electoral Board must appear and the envelope in which the address of the Career Consular Office or Consular Section of the Diplomatic Mission in which it is registered appears.
        • An information sheet on how to exercise the right to vote and the address of the official web page in which the final candidacies will be displayed, and in which the downloadable sets of ballots will be available, with all the competing candidacies, as well as any other information on ongoing electoral processes.
        • The list of authorized centers for the deposit of votes in a ballot box within the scope of their consular demarcation.

        The aforementioned electoral documentation must be sent by certified mail from the eighteenth day and before the twenty-fifth day after the call.

        The Provincial Delegations of the Electoral Census Office will also send the official ballots to the registration address of the absent resident voters who live abroad, as of the twenty-ninth and no later than the thirty-third day after the call, in those provinces where the proclamation of candidates had not been challenged and, in the rest, not later than the thirty-ninth.

        Voters have two ways to vote:

        • Voters who choose to cast their vote in a ballot box will do so between the eighth and third day, both inclusive, prior to the day of the election.
        • Voters who choose to exercise their right to vote by mail must send by postal mail, certified when possible, to the Career Consular Office or Consular Section of the Diplomatic Mission to which each voter is assigned, no later than fifth day prior to Election Day.

        They must include in the envelope addressed to the corresponding Electoral Board, in addition to the voting envelope or envelopes, one of the certificates of being registered in the census, on the back of which will appear the signature and passport number or National Identity Document of the voter, photocopy passport or National Identity Document issued by the Spanish authorities or certificate of nationality or, failing that, certification of registration in the Consular Registration Register issued by the Career Consular Office or the Consular Section of the Spanish Diplomatic Mission in the country of residence. All this will be entered in the envelope addressed to the Career Consular Office or Consular Section of the Diplomatic Mission to which each voter is attached, and the other certificate of being registered in the census will be included in this envelope.

  • Handing over of copies of the Electoral Census
      • To Autonomous Communities. Autonomous Communities may obtain a copy of the Electoral Census queried and also the one corresponding to the voting lists.
      • To declared candidacies. The representatives of each candidacy may obtain, on the day following declaration of candidacies, a copy of the census for the corresponding district.
      • Zone electoral boards. Zone electoral boards will be furnished with a copy of the electoral census corresponding to their scope.
  • Voting lists and specific census certificates

    • Once the complaints period has ended, the voting lists are determined and are sent to the polling stations.

      Following the complaints period and up until voting day, the Provincial Delegations of the Electoral Census Office may issue specific census certificates at the request of interested parties.

      Likewise, those people who prove their right to vote by being registered in the Section census and showing the corresponding judicial decision may also vote.