The Government delegate in La Rioja, Beatriz Arraiz Nalda, visited this morning the electoral logistics warehouse that the Government Delegation has in Logroño and from which the necessary material for the development of the local and regional elections is being distributed on May 28.
Arraiz Nalda recalled that the Ministry of the Interior is responsible for organizing local elections, in addition to providing the necessary infrastructure for all electoral processes. To this end, since it has to carry out its activities throughout the territory, it relies on the Government ' s delegations and sub-delegations, which act as its peripheral units in each of the provinces.
More than 1,000 ballot boxes, 925 booths and 516 polling stations in La Rioja
For this reason, it has highlighted the important logistical role played by the Government Delegation with regard to the holding of these elections. In this regard, it has specified that it is the Administration responsible for the distribution of all the material and physical elements for the vote: ballot boxes, booths and signage, ballot papers and envelopes, printed papers and minutes.
In particular, the material provided by the Government Delegation in La Rioja for the next local and regional elections are:
- Electoral Tables: 516
- Urns: 1,050 (1,036 will be used initially: 2 per electoral table, except for the 4 entities of territorial scope lower than the municipality that will put a third ballot box).
- Cabins: 925.
- Different signalling supports: 694.
- Manuals for Table Members: 7,598.
- Kits of material for the table members: 1.620.
- Different necessary minutes (autocopiative copies of 4 sheets): 12,600.
- Numbered lists of voters: 1,600.
- Voting certifications: 1,100 thalonists of 100 certifications each.
- Forms for Mail Vote Request: 19,000.
- Envelopes: 240,000.
As for the electoral ballot papers, the State does not contract in the processes convened.
In addition, Arraiz Nalda explained that the Government Delegation is responsible for coordinating the transmission of data on municipal elections on election day, through representatives of the Administration.
The budget allocated by the Government of Spain for the successful conduct of the elections in La Rioja will amount to approximately 500,000 euros.
Personal media in La Rioja
Different people intervene in the electoral process, so that the joint action of all of them allows the celebration of the process.
The delegate of the Government in La Rioja has recognized the excellent work of all of them and has thanked the “enormous effort” they are making in these weeks and that they will face up to 28 M.
In this way, a team composed of 54 public employees of the Government Delegation, coordinated by the General Secretariat, has been working for several weeks to ensure that the votes on election day proceed normally and the people of Rioja and Rioja can exercise their right to vote without problems.
This team of the Government Delegation is responsible for the global coordination of the entire electoral process, under the superior direction of the Ministry of the Interior, including the Incident Module for the day of May 28.
On the other hand, there are the electoral boards, which within their functions is to establish the criteria applicable to any aspect of the electoral process. In total there are 50 people who work in this section.
As for the municipalities, administrations that organize the vote in each municipality, 88 municipal secretaries are acting as delegates of the Electoral Boards and as contacts of the Government Delegation for municipal management. In addition, the municipalities of Rioja count another 186 people as collaborating staff and 417 will be dedicated to the conditioning of premises and assembly of ballot boxes and booths. In the municipalities of La Rioja, 171 justices of the peace also collaborate.
The members of the polling stations designated by public lottery also collaborate in this electoral process. There are a total of 516 tables distributed in 253 electoral colleges, fifteen tables more than in 2019, organized in 343 electoral sections in 192 different districts spread across the 174 municipalities of Rioja.
Each of the polling stations consists of a incumbent president and two incumbent members, plus a total of two deputies appointed for each, who under normal conditions will not become necessary. Therefore, the incumbent members are: 1,548 citizens, including 516 presidents and 1,032 members. In addition, 3,092 alternates are appointed.
For the transmission of data on the electoral process, the Administration appoints representatives at the different polling stations among personnel who are mostly public employees. In municipalities with fewer than 1,000 voters, the data is transmitted by telephone, while if that amount is exceeded, the transmission is done by electronic means. This means the following data: 154 public employees as representatives of the Administration with electronic transmission of local elections; 159 people, mostly public employees, as representatives of the Administration with telephone transmission of electoral processes.
To all these personal means we must add the troops of the Civil Guard, National Police and local police who will ensure the security and good development of the local and regional elections in La Rioja. Next Thursday, May 25, a Security Board will be held and the Government delegate, Beatriz Arraiz Nalda, will subsequently report on the operation.
Action of the Government Delegation in La Rioja
The actions of the Government Delegation are mainly carried out in the following areas:
- Coordination of the entire electoral process with the other participating agencies of La Rioja: municipalities, electoral boards, Electoral Census Office and, in this case, when there are autonomous elections, with the Autonomous Community of La Rioja.
- Selection of the personnel who will work as a representative of the administration and organization of the training, both those who transmit the data by electronic device and those who do so by telephone.
- Management of the electoral budget, which is governed by detailed economic-administrative instructions with a strict intervention of the thousands of payments to be made.
- Management of the electoral material that will be used in the electoral process in each and every one of the polling stations, providing the ballot boxes, booths, identification devices and all kinds of printed material, both the centralized material that is the same in all the provinces and the specific table records of this Community, whose contracting must be managed, also organizing its distribution and availability in all the polling stations during the electoral day. On this occasion, the ballot papers, which are contracted by the Autonomous Community for the autonomous elections and by the municipalities for the local ones, are not managed.
- Management of the administration’s support to disabled people who request it. The deaf who are part of the polling stations will be accompanied throughout the day by a loop for the deaf or a sign language translator, and the municipalities that request it will be paid for the justified transportation of voters with special needs.
- Establishment in the Government Delegation of an incident module that will remain open to the personnel involved in the elections throughout the election day to solve any problems that occur in La Rioja in the local elections.