Thousands of people from Tenerife, La Palma, Herreños and La Gomera choose, as in every electoral process, to exercise the right to vote by mail. The workers of the public postal company strive to make their task easier and until yesterday it was possible to request the vote before election day, Sunday the 28th. Next Wednesday the 24th is the deadline to vote as long as you have the certificate issued the census office.
The post office of the Spain Squarein Santa Cruz de Tenerife registered yesterday morning more public influx than usual on any other Wednesday, although without actually forming queues. The reason was the closing of the term to request the vote by mail for the regional elections and municipal next Sunday 28. The reasons for opting for this way of exercising democratic law are very varied.
Not only the impossibility of being on the Island that day due to trips, medical appointments or transfers within the Archipelago, but also a way of dedicating the festive day to other tasks or resting after completing the elections. The bridge on Tuesday 30, Day of Canary Islandswith many planned displacements, also encourages early voting. it’s possible vote until Wednesday the 24th, provided that the certificate that the voter must request and issue the census office has been received before.
Until today, the data on how many people have chosen to vote by mail will not be released, but in the local elections of May 2019, 22,006 people used these systems in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the equivalent of 3% of the census. Now 771,104 have the right to vote. On this Island there are 682,059 voters, on La Palma, 64,086; in La Gomera, 16,265 and 8,694 in El Hierro.
Génesis Paola Yanes Préstamo is 28 years old but her appearance and, above all, the illusion that she shows, suddenly subtract ten from what the DNI reflects to return to 18. This Venezuelan, of Canarian grandparents and resident on the Island for years and a half, proudly shows the certificate that accredits her to vote. “It’s the first time, she explains, and I’m really looking forward to it.” She will now receive by certified mail the confirmation that she is registered and the ballots. She will then return to the post office to deliver the ballot.
Génesis chose to request the document in person at the main office in Tenerife, but it was also possible to do so electronically from the web www.correos.es. It is the system chosen, through the digital certificate, by Javier Pestano, who will be out of the Island that Sunday for a medical appointment, and his wife, María José, who has to take care of his daughter that day. They completed all the steps yesterday, since they had previously received the census certification and the ballots at home. So they handed in their votes, which will remain in a sealed envelope and will be transferred by the Post Office staff during election day to the school where they should exercise their right. There they will be in custody until they are opened at the end of the voting. Javier considers that “this model is easy and guarantees. It was enough for us to go to the shift manager, pick up a number so that they would attend to us in a moment. All very fast. I think that the one who does not vote is simply because he does not want to ».
It is your right, just like someone who receives the census certificate but then decides not to go to the Post Office to vote. There are also. That is not the case of Antonio Herrera. He assures that “I had already scheduled a trip outside the Island, I remembered and requested the vote by mail.” He describes the system as “simple.” He did the management through the PIN. He points out that “I did not remember the number because I recently renewed my DNI and I had to go to the police station again where they treated me very well. Here I am today (for yesterday) already with the envelope and the votes inside. We have to stick to this.”
That sense of duty is what leads Alba to request a vote by mail. She values it: «I take care of a relative in La Gomera but I am registered in Santa Cruz, in the Southwest. I have always voted and although this time I thought not to, I decided to keep the tradition. I already asked for it and I hope that the certificate arrives so that I can then take the envelope to the Post Office».
The public postal company puts all the technological, logistical and human resources necessary to guarantee compliance with the commitments entrusted in the electoral processes. Among them, facilitating the vote before the day if requested in a timely manner. For this reason, 2,500 reinforcement contracts have been carried out throughout Spain, both to expedite service in offices and for the delivery of shipments and tasks in logistics centers.
The staff of the public postal company will live the electoral day of Sunday 28 in a special way. With a lot of work from first thing in the morning until Monday morning so that everything goes normally. As one respondent said, “he is the one who does not vote because he does not want to.”
A process that started on April 4
The period to vote by mail opened throughout Spain on April 4. The voters had until yesterday, May 18, to request the certificate of their registration in the corresponding Electoral Census. An essential requirement to be able to vote by correspondence. As of last day 8, Correos began to deliver the applications received in the Provincial Delegations of the Census Office.
The applicant should receive an envelope with the instructions and documentation to vote by certified mail. The limit is the third day before the elections, next Wednesday the 24th. The vote is recorded by the Census Bureau and can no longer be exercised in person. The Correos staff defends its “rigorous professionalism” and the “guarantee” of its work. Veterans with decades of experience assure: “We have never seen here what is denounced in Melilla about buying votes with attacks on postmen.” | JDM
