The delegate of the Government in Navarre, Alicia Echeverría, has presented the device prepared on the occasion of the elections to the European Parliament that are held in Spain on June 9 and whose organization is the responsibility of the General Administration of the State. In order to guarantee the exercise of the right to vote, the Foral Community will have a total of 884 tables distributed in 359 electoral venues. 15 million ballot papers have been printed and 14 requests for braille kits for voting by visually impaired people have been handled.
The electoral census is made up of 523,957 people in Navarre. Of these, 492,993 are Spanish voters residing in Spain and 30,964 are residents abroad - what is known as the CERA vote - according to data from the National Institute of Statistics. 5,676 people will vote for the first time in an election. In addition, there are 1,912 voters of the European Union residing in Navarre who have expressed their intention to vote in Spain in the European elections of their respective countries of origin.
Regarding the postal vote, 10,478 applications have been admitted, of which 8,401 were submitted in person and the rest, 2,077, electronically.
Echeverría recalled that the basic functions of the Government Delegation in any electoral process are two: to provide the necessary logistical support to exercise the vote and to transmit the data of participation and scrutiny on the same day of the elections.
Personnel of the General Administration of the State (AGE) have been working for weeks in this process, in coordination with all the municipalities of the Foral Community, to be able to assign, and where appropriate replace, both the printed material (ballot papers, minutes…) and the non-printed material necessary for the day of the vote, such as ballot boxes, booths or signage.
Regarding the transmission of data, there will be a total of 713 representatives of the AGE of which 243 will cover the 243 tables installed in Pamplona and 470 will report on the 641 tables installed in the rest of Navarre. A total of 308 tablets have been distributed for the transmission of information from 701 tables to the data reception centers. And the rest of the tables will be transmitted by mobile phone.
In addition, throughout the electoral day there will be, at the headquarters of the Government Delegation, personnel authorized to resolve any incident that may arise with the representatives of the municipalities, the constitution of the tables or the material, in collaboration with the electoral boards.
Accessibility in the polling stations of Pamplona
As a novelty of these elections, posters aimed at facilitating cognitive accessibility have been distributed in the 26 electoral venues of Pamplona. This system offers clear and simple messages that help citizens with cognitive problems, mainly elderly people, with intellectual disability or with literacy difficulties, to orient themselves and move around the polling stations.
It is a series of pictograms that graphically indicate the location of the electoral college, the booths, the opening hours of the schools or the main steps to vote, among other issues.
This signage, which was tested in the electoral colleges of Madrid during the elections of 2023 and which has gradually been replicated in other electoral contests, has now been extended to the capitals of all the autonomous communities.
Security device
To coordinate the police presence during the election day, this morning a security board was held in which the device was agreed for Sunday. A device that adds up to 1,621 personnel among the 242 contributed by the National Police, the 889 of the Civil Guard, the 260 Foral Police officers and the 230 of the local police throughout Navarre.
The police forces will work to ensure that the 359 approved polling stations can open their doors punctually and that the voting day runs normally. As Echeverría has explained, it is about “guaranteeing the free exercise of the right to vote of the Navarre citizens”.
In addition, and as the delegate of the Government has recalled, preventive, reactive and coordination measures have been established for possible incidents that may affect the networks and information systems that support computer systems related to elections, campaigns, public administrations and other relevant actors in this field.
Web and APP
Last April, the Ministry of the Interior enabled the website info.eleccioneseuropeas2024.es to provide citizens with relevant information on how to exercise the right to vote, the electoral calendar or the different candidacies that are presented. It also contains material related to accessibility.
The provisional results will be published on a website and in an official APP that is being finalized by the Ministry of the Interior. In any case, the information will be dumped when the vote ends in all European countries, which is estimated to happen around 11 p.m., when the polling stations in Italy close.
On the other hand, on the same day, four public hearings are scheduled by the Government of Spain: at 10:30h to report the beginning of the electoral day, at 14:30h and at 18:30h with the progress of participation, and around 23:00h with the provisional results of the elections to the European Parliament.