Too old for the polling station: the great excuse for 23-J is the demographic drama

After the closure of Sálvame, it did not take long for Kiko Matamoros to receive proposals to sit at another table. In this case, an electoral one, for the elections next Sunday. The television collaborator expressed his disbelief and indignation for this reason: “Those over 65 are exempt from being part of a polling station, but despite this they summon me as a substitute member”. Actually, the law allows a citizen to summon even if he is over this age, but Matamoros is right and because of his age (66 years) he has every right to be excluded from that table.

The electoral drama of aged Spain

The anecdote is having, however, a gloomy B-side in the town halls of many cities in inland Spain. Municipalities made up of a large number of seniors who, following the Matamoros doctrine, have been erased from the tables. The electoral boards are not able to find enough people to supervise and count the votes of the general elections of 23-J.

The law indicates certain exemptions when forming a polling station, which are resolved in order of age, among which are being over 65 years of age, the disabled, having changed residence to another autonomous community, pregnant with more than six months or on maternity leave, being an inmate in a prison or psychiatric hospital, having been part of a polling station three times during the previous 10 years or being the victim of a crime whose convicted or investigated person has a restraining order and is in the same census. Some of them, such as age, increase the possibility that the number of allegations is proportionally higher in aged municipalities in rural Spain..

This adds to the difficulties that many electoral boards are already encountering in trying to find presidents and members. The Soriano municipality of Almazán, with its 5,500 inhabitants, is one of the towns that had to repeat the draw a few weeks ago due to the lack of personnel available for the tables. The vote will take place in five days and, although the same urgency is no longer transmitted, the situation is still not quite on track. “There have been excuses, but here there are always more problems with local elections,” they explain from their Electoral Board to El Confidencial. “In small towns, many people go to the candidacies, so they cannot be at the table. It's hard to organize them.”.

12 kilometers from there is Escobosa de Almazán, a small town with 25 residents. In order for elections to be held next Sunday, they have had to register from the surrounding towns, precisely because their population is made up mostly of retirees who cannot or have voluntarily declined to participate in the elections..

Castilla y León, ground zero

The situation of this Spain, too old to sustain a democracy for several hours at 40 °C, is especially pressing in Castilla y León. It is not that it has more than 65, but it is the autonomous community where the population is more dispersed, there are a myriad of small towns with less than 100 inhabitants. Ávila is another of the areas of the country where the city councils are finding it more difficult to first gather a staff of presidents and board members to play on Sunday.

In the area that includes the capital, a total of 230 allegations have been received and up to nine polling stations out of the 59 in Ávila have received more than four allegations (although not all of their members have appeared at any), which has caused that a new raffle has to be carried out. In some centers, such as Diocesano or Reina Fabiola, there have been two tables where a new draw was held last Friday. The rest are Parque de Tráfico, IES Isabel de Castilla, CP Santa Ana, CP La Encarnación or CP San Esteban.

“This raffle does not modify the first one, in which the members of the tables have already been chosen, but it is complementary for the tables in which there has been an excess of absences”, explained the spokesman for the Ávila City Council, Jose Ramon Budino.

Another area in which allegations have been received is Arenas de San Pedro, as explained by the Provincial Board: this Wednesday the final lists for the holding of the elections must arrive. In one of the municipalities in the area, La Adrada, with 2,517 inhabitants, the allegations received once again show the added difficulties faced by small towns, beyond the usual vacations already booked: “Above all the people over the age of 65, who have moved to another municipality or one, who is a councilor,” they explain.

Same situation to the north, in El Bierzo. Ponferrada has been one of the most cited cities in recent weeks due to its alleged problems when completing the tables. An example of what was to come in many places in inland Spain on 23-J. But its Electoral Board assures this medium that all the attention comes from some erroneous data that was communicated in the press. “It has been said that only a few tables were complete, but the reality is that it is the opposite, there are only a few that remain to be completed,” explains the registry secretary of the Electoral Board of Ponferrada, José Miguel Carbajosa.. “Everything comes from a publication of the newspaper El Mundo, which gave some data that was not such. It is true that it has cost more to form the tables than on other occasions, but everything is ready for the elections to take place as normal,” he added..

According to the secretary, of the 84 polling stations in the capital of El Bierzo, only about five remain to be formalized, something that he assures will be achieved. “There are many days left and we are in a position for everything to go according to plan. Obviously, we have had to manage many excuses, because the call is what it is, but there is no risk, as seemed to be said”.

“Impressive number of excuses”

Age is an increasingly relevant factor, given the demographic structure towards which Spain is heading, but it is not being the main obstacle to compose the tables of 23-J. For the most part, the reason is none other than vacations, taken or to be taken. Throughout Spain, the members of the electoral boards of many provinces are living frantic days. In provinces such as Córdoba, Álava, Murcia, Ávila or Soria, up to four notification roundups have been necessary to find a minimum number of presidents and members. With each of these rounds, they have had to face an unprecedented number of allegations—justified in some cases and delusional in others—to try to extricate themselves from their duty..

The southern half of Córdoba, where part of the inhabitants traditionally spend their summers on the nearby Costa del Sol, is another problematic area when it comes to recruiting. In Cabra, Nueva Carteya, Doña Mencía, Aguilar de la Frontera or Puente Genil, they have had to carry out second draws. In Priego de Córdoba, they did the third a couple of days ago. “We have had to make new draws for 13 of the tables,” the secretary of the local Electoral Board explained to this newspaper. “The number of excuses that have come to us has been impressive, but little by little we have been resolving all the allegations and we practically have the fringes left”.

The consistory estimates the composition of its polling stations at 80%, and admits that although at first they were startled by the number of non-appearances, today the situation is reasonably controlled for Sunday. The electoral law provides that, in cases where a table has not been completed, the first voters to attend the polling station are the ones who end up being part of it..

At a time when the parties propose in their electoral programs different measures to delay the retirement age even up to 72 years, the age to be able to remove yourself from a polling station remains unchanged.