Yesterday, the Official State Gazette published the reform of the organic law of the General Electoral Regime, which, among other things, eliminates the requested vote of Spaniards residing abroad, who from now on will receive ex officio at their homes the documentation to vote.
Until now, Spaniards residing abroad who wanted to exercise their right to vote in general, regional or European Parliament elections had to previously request or beg to vote. To do this, they had to meet a series of deadlines, both for requesting documentation and for sending the vote by postal mail or depositing it in a ballot box, circumstances that made it difficult to exercise this right, which has resulted in a reduction " very significant” in the levels of participation of this group. Less than 10% of voters applied to vote in the recent general election.
As of today, the obligation to request or beg to vote is eliminated. In addition, voters will be able to download the ballots electronically. The reform is completed with an extension from three to seven days of the deadlines for the deposit of the vote in the ballot box and maintains the possibility of sending the vote by postal mail to the corresponding consular office in the event that the voter cannot go to vote in dependency enabled for this purpose.
