The call for general elections for July 23, in the heat of heat and in one of the months preferred by many Spaniards to go on vacation, has triggered request for a vote by mail. The data, still provisional, place at more than 2.5 million the number of people who will thus exercise their right to choose who they want to govern them in the next legislature. A very high number that the service of Mail, with part of the staff also on vacation, he has to manage effectively so that none of the voters who have opted for that type of suffrage is left without the possibility of doing so. In fact, many Post Office workers, 30%, have voluntarily postponed their vacations, Nearly 20,000 new employees have been hired and working hours have been extended only for facilitate the voting process.
Voting by mail has been used in the various elections in our country since democracy was restored without any problem. In the 28M elections there were already more than two million petitions, which did not alter the procedure, except for minor incidents of alleged vote buying in small municipalities. On this occasion there are surely many more people who, faced with the imminence of their vacations, are uncertain as to whether the ballots will arrive at their homes before they travel. But many are already receiving them and have even cast their vote. But there are still many more to do.
It is the responsibility of Correos to guarantee that they will be able to do so, and it is the Government who is responsible for ensuring that this commitment is fulfilled in a timely manner. If voting is a civic right/duty, it is even more so to ensure that everyone who wants to cast their vote can do so and also does so convinced of the process cleanup. Because citizen confidence in the electoral system is one of the fundamental bases of democracy. If voters suspect, or believe they have a reason to suspect, that someone may interfere in the exercise of their right to vote or in the recount, the democratic system will be fatally devalued. And enough are already the threats that hang over the democracies with the advance of populism and far-right parties as to add more fuel to the fire.
However, it is also the obligation of the opposition and, particularly, of a state party such as the PP, which could be ruling in a few months, not to sow doubts about the neatness with which the electoral process is carried out in Spain. Furthermore, if the insinuations are made in a rally, without nuances, and they are repeated later in successive interventions in the media. It is true that Correos employees fear being overwhelmed, and this has been expressed by some union leaders, but one should not confuse the labor claims of some workers with the delegitimization of the electoral process. The health of our democracy is too serious a matter enough to be used in the electoral contest and therefore should be the subject of the consensus of all parties. Especially the big two.