The JEC opens the door to allege a contracted trip before May 30 to avoid being at a polling station

It will serve only for this electoral call as it is held in full summer vacation

The Central Electoral Board (JEC) has opened the door so that people who had hired their vacations before May 30 can get rid of being part of a polling station in the elections on July 23 if they show that their cancellation is a " economic damage or serious disorder", and provided that the composition of the table is guaranteed.

This was agreed by the arbitration body at the meeting held this Thursday in Congress, given the unusual scenario of holding general elections in the middle of July.

Specifically, the JEC establishes that if election day coincides with a "travel or stay of a vacation nature, which has been contracted before the date of the call for elections" (the call decree was published on May 30) may argue as an "excuse" before the corresponding Zone Electoral Board the damages that its annulment would entail.

Of course, the arbitration body points out that it must be "economic damage or a serious disorder to the applicant", which must be accredited "documentarily".

In addition, to be considered as an excuse, the corresponding zone electoral board will have to ensure "the full integration of the tables", that is, that they may be duly constituted on the day of the vote.

In its agreement, collected by Europa Press, the JEC explains that it considers it inappropriate to modify, in general, its 2011 instruction on this matter to add a new personal cause that expressly justifies as an excuse that the person designated to be part of a board electoral has contracted vacation trips, whether family or individual, prior to the date of calling the elections.

However, the arbitration body understands that, unlike what happened in other electoral processes, on this occasion "there is the extraordinary circumstance that the date of celebration (July 23) fully coincides with the phase in which, within the annual cycle, the trips typical of the summer period are usual".

GUARANTEES THAT THE TABLES ARE FORMED

For this reason, the JEC has established that "exclusively in the present electoral process", the Zone Electoral Boards must assess, for the purposes provided in article 27.3 of the LOREG, the viability of the excuse consisting in the fact that the day of the electoral day coincides with a trip or stay of a vacation nature that has caused hiring prior to the calling of the elections, and whose cancellation causes economic damage or serious disruption to the applicant.

When assessing the possibility that excuses of this type prosper, especially "the objective difficulties that this could entail for the full integration of the tables" of the corresponding demarcation must be taken into account. That will be, the letter of the JEC points out, the "main criterion that must prevail in any case".

In second place, the documentation delivered by the person claiming the trip will be taken into account to prove that they contracted it before the call and that the economic damages or serious disorders caused by its cancellation.