The general elections of November 29 They will allow the representatives of the Congress and the Senate to be elected. To participate you must meet the requirements of the Organic Law of the General Electoral Regime (LOREG)which establishes who can vote and in what cases there is a deprivation of that right.
The norm is based on three conditions. The voter must have the Spanish nationalitybe adult and be enrolled in the current electoral roll. Furthermore, he cannot be serving a final sentence that expressly deprives him of the right to vote.
Minors under 18 years of age cannot vote
Those who have not complied 18 years old on election day are left out of the vote. The date that counts is election day, not the moment in which the call is announced or the campaign begins.
Therefore, a person who turns 18 November 29 You will be able to participate if you meet the other requirements. Whoever meets them the next day will have to wait for another call.
Those who do not have Spanish nationality cannot vote in general elections, even if they legally reside in Spain. The possibilities of participation of certain foreign citizens in municipal or European elections do not extend to the elections to elect the Cortes Generales.
What sentences can prevent you from voting?
He article 3.1 of the LOREG contemplates the deprivation of the right to vote when imposed by a final court rulingas a main or accessory penalty and during the time of its fulfillment.
This does not mean that anyone convicted loses their vote. Being in prison does not automatically eliminate the right to vote. It is also not enough to be investigated, prosecuted or pending trial.
It is also necessary to distinguish between the active suffragewhich allows voting, and the passive suffragereferring to the possibility of being elected. A disqualification from standing as a candidate does not in itself amount to a ban on casting a ballot.
Why is it necessary to appear in the census?
Article 2 of the law establishes that the registration in the current electoral roll It is essential to exercise the vote. Having a Spanish DNI and being of sufficient age does not replace this requirement.
If a person detects that it does not appear or finds errors in their data, they must use the census complaint procedure provided for the call. The law also contemplates accreditation mechanisms, such as specific census certification or the corresponding judicial resolution, for the cases in which they apply.
That is why it is advisable to review the registration during the authorized period, especially if there has been a change of address or there is an administrative incident.
Disability does not prevent you from voting
The Organic Law 2/2018 eliminated two exclusions that appeared in the previous wording of the rule. They affected certain people declared judicially incapable and people admitted to psychiatric hospitals when there was a resolution that expressly deprived them of suffrage.
Those restrictions They are no longer valid. The reform annulled the judicial limitations based on those assumptions and restored the right to vote to the affected people.
The current regulation allows it to be exercised consciously, freely and voluntarily, regardless of the way the decision is communicated and with the necessary support means. The LOREG itself contemplates that voters who need it can be helped by a trusted person for certain voting operations.
Requesting a vote by mail does not mean losing it
Another different situation is that of those who request to vote by correspondence. When the Electoral Census Office accepts the request and makes the corresponding annotation, The voter can no longer vote in person at their table.
You retain your right, but you must exercise it through the postal procedure. If you do not finally send the envelope within the deadline, you will not be able to go to the electoral college on November 29 to replace that sending with an in-person vote.