Today marks the celebration of democracy, and in Canarias, a total of 1,842,750 citizens from EU member states are called to participate. Their task? To elect the 61 Spanish MEPs who will be part of the European Parliament in the tenth term, two more representatives than in the last 2019 elections. To achieve this, a deployment has been ongoing for over two months. Ballot boxes, ballot papers, envelopes, and polling stations are all set up, waiting for citizens to come and vote throughout the day so that the winner, by the end of the day, is not abstention.
For this election, the task is simple: choose a white ballot paper with a single list and an envelope of the same colour. No crosses, no array of ballot boxes. Just pick one of the 34 Spanish candidacies. This year, unlike in 2019, the European elections do not coincide with regional elections, making the process much simpler. However, the deployment of polling stations is similar. There are 2,945 polling stations set up in 1,046 electoral venues across the archipelago.
Throughout the entire voting process today, 8,834 citizens are in charge as members of the polling stations, who are advised by 2,945 representatives of the Administration. In the Las Palmas province, there are 1,569 polling stations spread across 511 venues, while in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, there are 1,376 stations and 535 electoral venues, each with the same distribution: one Administration representative and three members for each station.
There are now fewer ballot boxes than five years ago, but more voters. Since 2019, the electoral roll has increased by 82,000 people. Out of the 1.8 million potential voters, 1.6 million are Spanish residents in Canarias, 169,301 are residents living abroad, and 38,411 are non-Spanish Europeans residing in the archipelago.
The distribution of ballot papers is also significant; Delegation of the Government ensures that, at a minimum, 62.6 million ballot papers and almost two million envelopes have been printed. Ready to be placed in the 2,945 ballot boxes spread across the islands today. Although a light count is expected due to having only one ballot box in play. Digitalisation will play a crucial role. For the transmission of data from the polling venues in Canarias, a total of 1,154 electronic devices have been distributed, with 575 in the Las Palmas province and 579 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
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The security operation is also a key component of the electoral day. In the archipelago, a total of 4,301 agents will participate today: 1,958 from the National Police, 1,753 from the Guardia Civil, 67 from the Canarian Police, and 523 from the Local Police.
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