How to vote on 29 November

In a general election, people who meet three conditions on polling day can vote:

• Spanish nationality. Foreign residents, including EU citizens, do not vote in general elections.
• Being 18 by 29 November 2026 at the latest.
• Being on the electoral roll: the one for residents in Spain or, for those living abroad, the CERA.

The roll is compiled automatically from the municipal register: there is no registration. If you moved recently, you vote where you were registered when the roll closed. From 12 to 19 October (the sixth to the thirteenth day after the call, by our calculation) you can check your entry at the town hall or the INE and claim if there is an error.

Check my entry on the electoral roll (INE)

To vote you only need to identify yourself to the board with one of these documents, the original:

• DNI (national identity card).
• Passport.
• Driving licence with photograph.

The Central Electoral Board accepts expired documents as long as they identify you. Photocopies and photos on a phone are not accepted. The electoral card sent to your home is not required: it only tells you your polling station and board. Ballots and envelopes are at the polling station; you may also bring the envelope ready from home.

Hours

9:00 to 20:00

Canary Islands

9:00 to 20:00, local time

Date

Sunday, November 29

Everyone votes at one particular board in a polling place assigned by their address on the roll. The electoral card sent by the Electoral Roll Office shows it, and the INE lets you check it online with your DNI once the election is called.

If on polling day you do not know where to go, every polling place in the municipality has the lists of boards and town halls answer enquiries.

Check my polling station and board (INE)

The enquiry is made on the INE's electronic office. Su Momento neither stores nor receives your data.

The postal vote lets you vote without going to the polling station. It has two deadlines that cannot be missed and, once requested, you can no longer vote in person.

1. 1

   Request it by 19/11

   At any Correos post office, showing your original DNI, passport or driving licence, or online on the Correos website with a digital certificate or Cl@ve. If illness or disability keeps you from going, another person can do it with a notarial or consular power of attorney.

   Add to calendarCorreos website
2. 2

   Receive the documents at home

   From the proclamation of the lists (expected on 02/11), Correos hands you in person, at the address you gave, the ballots, the envelopes and your roll certificate. If you are out, it leaves a notice and you can collect it at the office with proof of identity.

3. 3

   Prepare the vote

   Put the chosen ballot in the voting envelope of each chamber (Congreso and Senate), seal them and place them with the certificate in the envelope addressed to your polling station board.

4. 4

   Send it by 25/11

   Hand it in as registered mail at any Correos office. It is free and you must identify yourself when handing it in. Correos keeps it and delivers it to your board on polling day.

   Add to calendar

Dates calculated under the LOREG from the 6 October call: request by 19/11 and sending by 25/11, unless the Central Electoral Board publishes others.

Anyone living abroad and registered on the CERA receives the documents without asking: since 2022 the vote no longer has to be requested.

• Residents abroad (CERA): the Electoral Roll Office sends the documents automatically to the consular address. You can vote by post to the consulate or place the vote in a ballot box at the consulate on the days set by the call.
• People temporarily abroad (ERTA): they must request the vote at the consulate within 25 days of the call (by 31 October, by our calculation) and then send the vote by post to their board in Spain.
• In both cases you must identify yourself with a DNI or passport and keep to the consulate's deadlines, which are usually earlier than those in Spain.

CERA votes are counted in the general count, days after the vote, so they are not in the election-night tally.

Official information on voting from abroad

Each polling station board has a chair and two members, each with two substitutes, drawn by public lot from the section's roll. Town halls hold the draw under the supervision of the Zone Electoral Board.

• When: the draw takes place between the 25th and the 29th day after the call (31 October to 4 November, by our calculation). The notice arrives within the following three days.
• It is compulsory. You can plead a justified cause to the Zone Electoral Board within seven days of the notice: illness, care of children or dependants, a work trip, being over 65, among others. The Board decides.
• The day starts at 8:00 and ends with the count and the handover of the paperwork. There is an allowance and paid leave that day; the next day, a five-hour reduction of the working day.
• Not turning up without a justified cause is an electoral offence (LOREG, article 143).

The lists' interventores may also sit at the board and their apoderados may be in the polling place. They observe and may file complaints; they do not run the vote.

Central Electoral Board

The three are often confused and have different effects on the allocation. The key is the 3 % threshold: the D'Hondt method only allocates seats among the lists that pass 3 % of the province's valid votes.

• Blank vote

  An envelope with no ballot. For the Senate, a ballot with no mark.

  It is valid and counts in the total on which the 3 % is calculated. It goes to no party, but it makes small lists need more votes to enter the allocation.

• Spoilt vote

  A torn, crossed-out or annotated ballot, an envelope with ballots of different lists, a ballot from another election or without envelope.

  It is not valid. It counts neither for the 3 % nor for any party. It only appears in turnout.

• Abstention

  Not voting.

  It does not change the seat allocation: the province's seats are shared out the same way among those who do vote. It only lowers turnout.

A common mistake: for the Congreso the list is closed and blocked. If you cross out a name or change the order, the vote is spoilt. For the Senate, by contrast, the ballot is open and you mark up to three names.

Try the effect in the simulator

The law provides several supports so that everyone can vote by themselves:

• Accessible voting in braille: blind people or those with a serious visual impairment can request a kit with the ballots identified in braille, by phone or on the Ministerio del Interior website, up to 27 days after the call (2 November, by our calculation). The kit waits at their board on polling day.
• Assistance: anyone who cannot read or has a disability that prevents them from choosing or inserting the ballot can do so with the help of a person they trust (LOREG, article 87).
• Accessible premises: polling places must be accessible, with boards and booths at a suitable height. If one is not, the town hall announces the alternative.
• Since 2018 every person with a disability has the right to vote, with no exceptions by court ruling.

Official information on accessible voting

The words you will hear on election night, explained in one sentence. Across the site, words with a dotted underline open this definition.

3 % threshold

To take part in a province's seat allocation, a list needs at least 3 % of that province's valid votes (votes for lists plus blank votes). See it in action →

Absolute majority

More than half of the deputies: 176 of 350. It is what the first investiture vote requires. See it in action →

Abstention

Not voting. It plays no part in the seat allocation; it only lowers turnout.

Apoderado

A representative of a list who may enter any polling place in the constituency to observe the vote, without sitting on any board.

Blank vote

An empty envelope or, for the Senate, an unmarked ballot. It is a valid vote: it counts in the total used for the 3 % threshold, but goes to no list. See it in action →

BOE

Boletín Oficial del Estado, the official gazette. It publishes the election call, the lists and the official results.

CERA

Censo Electoral de Residentes Ausentes: people registered at a consulate because they live abroad. They vote by post or at a ballot box in the consulate. See it in action →

Closed, blocked list

For the Congreso you vote for a whole list in the order the party set. Neither the order nor the names can be changed.

Constituency

The territory in which seats are allocated. In a general election it is the province; Ceuta and Melilla elect one deputy each. See it in action →

Count

The counting of the votes. The provisional count is done by each polling station on election night and published by the Ministerio del Interior; the general count, by the Provincial Electoral Boards from the third day on, is the definitive one.

D'Hondt method

A proportional way of allocating seats. Each list's votes are divided by 1, 2, 3… and the seats go to the highest quotients. The Congreso uses it in every province (LOREG, article 163). See it in action →

Electoral Board

The bodies that guarantee a clean process: the Central Electoral Board, the provincial boards and the zone boards. They settle complaints and proclaim lists and results.

Electoral roll

The list of people entitled to vote. It is compiled by the INE's Electoral Roll Office from municipal registers and consular records.

Exit poll

A poll of voters as they leave the polling station. It may only be published once the polls close, at 20:00.

Interventor

A representative of a list entitled to sit at one particular polling station board, vote there and oversee the vote and the count. The party accredits them.

Investiture

The vote in which the Congreso gives its confidence to a candidate for Prime Minister proposed by the King (Constitution, article 99). See it in action →

LOREG

Organic Law 5/1985 on the General Electoral System. The law that governs elections in Spain: roll, lists, campaign, vote, count and seat allocation.

Poll

An estimate of voting intention from a sample of people. It has a margin of error and is not a result.

Poll blackout

The five days before the vote in which the LOREG bans publishing or spreading electoral polls. For 29N, from 24 November at 00:00 to the 29th at 20:00. See it in action →

Polling station board

The team of three people (a chair and two members) drawn by lot who run the vote at a polling station and count that ballot box. See it in action →

Postal vote

Voting without going to the polling station: requested at Correos until 19 November, the documents arrive at home and the vote is sent by registered post until 25 November. See it in action →

Proclamation of lists

The act of the Provincial Electoral Board that fixes the final lists after reviewing those submitted. For 29N it is expected on 2 November.

Quotient

Each result of dividing a list's votes by 1, 2, 3… under the D'Hondt method. The seats go to the highest quotients.

Reflection day

The day before the vote, 28 November. The law bans campaign events and asking for votes. See it in action →

Seat

Each of the 350 places in the Congreso de los Diputados. They are allocated by province: two fixed for each (one for Ceuta and one for Melilla) and the rest by population. See it in action →

Senate, open list

Each province elects four senators (three in the larger islands, one in the smaller ones, two each in Ceuta and Melilla). The ballot is open: up to three names are marked, from any list, and the most voted are elected. See it in action →

Simple majority

More votes in favour than against, abstentions not counted. It is enough in the second investiture vote, 48 hours after the first. See it in action →

Spoilt vote

A vote that cannot be counted: a torn or annotated ballot, an envelope with ballots of different lists, a ballot without envelope. It is not valid and counts for nothing.

Turnout

The share of the electoral roll that voted, blank and spoilt votes included.