A total of 2,083,717 Castilians and Leoneses can exercise their right to vote on July 23

• In this autonomous community 31 deputies are elected 36 senators • 55,000 people will work during the day of the elections so that the process develops normally

July 18, 2023.- The delegate of the Government in Castilla y León, Virginia Barcones, said today that the Delegation of Government in this Autonomous Community, "has prepared all the necessary infrastructure for the celebration of the general elections of July 23 in which 2,083,717 citizens of Castilla y León will be able to vote. There are 28,147 fewer voters than in the last electoral call for Cortes Generales, on November 10, 2019.”

According to Barcones, there is the fact that the Census of Spanish Residents in Spain, the CER, has decreased since the elections four years ago by 33,932 voters while the CERA, which is the Electoral Census of Absent Residents, that is, Spaniards abroad, has increased by 5,787 people.

These elections were called by Royal Decree 400/2023, of 29 May, to dissolve the Congress of Deputies and the Senate and to call for general elections. They are governed by the Organic Law of the General Electoral Regime, the LOREG.

In the general elections, the electoral constituency is the province. In total, in Castilla y León 31 deputies are elected from the 350 that make up the Congress and 36 senators. The number of senators is not fixed. There are 208 senators elected by universal, free, equal, direct and secret suffrage. In addition, there is another group of senators elected by the legislative assemblies of the autonomous communities: one per autonomous community, and another for every million inhabitants of their respective territory.

There are four senators for each province of Castilla y León and, as for the deputies, Valladolid chooses five; Burgos, León and Salamanca choose four; Zamora, Palencia, Ávila and Segovia choose three, and Soria chooses two.

In Castilla y León, 107 nominations for the Congress have been proclaimed: 14 in Valladolid and Palencia; 12 in Zamora, Salamanca and León; 11 in Ávila, Burgos and Segovia, and 10 in Soria. And as for the Senate, 98 candidacies have been proclaimed: 9 in Soria; 10 in Ávila, Burgos and Segovia; 11 in León and Zamora; 12 in Salamanca and Valladolid, and 13 in Palencia.

CENSUS

In these elections, all older Spaniards registered in the electoral census can vote, both residents in Spain (the so-called CER) and residents abroad (the CERA). Persons sentenced by a final court ruling to the penalty of deprivation of the right to vote may not vote.

The electoral census in force for these elections is the one closed on March 1, 2023, which records the movements reported by the municipalities, consulates and civil registers produced until February 27, 2023. In addition, the estimated claims that may have been filed up to June 12 are incorporated.

In Castilla y León, 2,083,717 Spanish and Spanish can vote, of which 1,922,163 are part of the Census of Spanish Residents in Spain and 161,554 are included in the Census of Spanish Residents Abroad. The province in which the least people can vote is Soria, with 75,766 possible voters and the most, Valladolid, with 431,375.

On July 23, 71,744 new voters will be able to vote with respect to the last General Court elections in November 2019. They are the ones who have reached the age of majority, 18 years, in the last four years.

There is a novelty in these elections with respect to those of 2019. Organic Law 12/2022, of September 30, reformed article 75 of LOREG, for the regulation of the exercise of the vote by Spaniards living abroad. He suppressed the so-called rogado vote, so that Spaniards living abroad receive the electoral documentation without having to request it.

Of the 161,554 voters residing abroad (from CERA), the country that hosts the most potential voters is, by far, Argentina with 52,136, followed by France with 23,139. Then there are Germany, with 9,422; Cuba, with 9,303; Mexico, with 7,495; Brazil, with 6,878; Switzerland, with 6,768; and the United States, with 6,677.

ELECTORAL ADMINISTRATION

The Electoral Administration is responsible for ensuring the transparency and objectivity of the electoral process and the principle of equality. The Electoral Administration consists of the electoral boards (central, provincial and area), as well as the electoral tables.

In elections to the Congress of Deputies or the Senate, the electoral boards competent to carry out all operations in relation to the presentation and proclamation of candidates, as well as those for general scrutiny, etc., are the provincial electoral boards.

In addition to the nine provincial electoral boards in Castilla y León, there are 39 other electoral boards in the area.

The polling stations will be 4,527 composed of three members each, a president and two members. In each of them there will be a representative of the Administration to send the data.

55,000 PEOPLE

In total, more than 55,000 people participate directly in the electoral system next Sunday, of which 13,581 are board members. Another 27,162 are the alternates of these board members.

There will be about 8,500 agents of the security forces and bodies. Also, 4,527 representatives of the Administration, one per table. 420 public employees of the government sub-delegations and the government delegation. And 273 members of the electoral boards.

More than 23 million ballot papers have been printed for Congress and 2.5 million ballot papers for the Senate.

In Burgos and Valladolid, two sign language interpreters have been requested for table members. In addition, there have been 39 requests for accessible voting kits for visually impaired people who know braille. And there are also 89 polling stations with cognitive accessibility signage thanks to the collaboration of Full Inclusion, the network of organizations that ensures compliance with the rights of people with intellectual disabilities.

VOTE BY POST

As for the vote by mail, 178,846 people have requested it. This is 133% more than those who requested it in the last elections, the autonomous elections of May. They were then 76,587. This is a figure very similar to that recorded in the generals of November 10, 2019. It was then 75,165.

Of the nearly 179,000 people who have applied to vote by mail, 176,000 have already received the documentation that allows them to vote.

PROCEDURE

The procedure to be followed on Election Day is the same as in all elections. The constitution of the tables and the verification of the material is carried out between 08:00 and 09:00 hours. At nine o’clock in the morning the vote begins, which will last until eight o’clock in the afternoon.

At that time the vote is closed. If people who have not yet voted remain at the polling place, or at the entrance to it, the Bureau will let them vote, and will not allow anyone else to do so. The President of the Bureau shall then insert the envelopes containing the ballot papers sent by mail into the respective ballot box. The members of the Bureau will then be able to vote.

For the ballot, the following order will be followed: first the elections to the Congress of Deputies and then the elections to the Senate.

The representatives of the administration will transfer to the data centers the constitution of the tables, at 09:00 hours. At 14:00 hours, the first advance of participation. And at 18:00 hours, the second advance of participation. On the website that is enabled for this purpose and in the application for mobile phones, citizens will have complete information about this data.

SAFETY

All government sub-delegations have held or are holding local security meetings these days to coordinate the deployment of Civil Guard, National Police and Local Police.

On July 23, there are 8,500 police officers in Castilla y León who will work to guarantee citizen security and the exercise of rights and freedoms during the voting day.

The National Police will deploy 3,110 officers, while there will be 4,591 civilian guards. The municipalities will provide 782 agents of the Municipal Police.