Voters who already know they cannot reach their polling station on Sunday 29 November can still apply for a postal vote, but the window is narrowing. Applications remain open until Thursday the 19th, while the Electoral Census Office will begin sending ballot packs on Monday the 9th. Completed votes must be handed in at a post office no later than Wednesday 25 November.
The same timetable applies across the Valencian Community, whose three provinces will elect 33 MPs between them: 16 in Valencia, 12 in Alicante and five in Castellón. The election decree also assigns four directly elected senators to each province. Campaigning begins on 13 November, by which point the postal voting process will already be under way.
Ballot packs can be sent to a temporary address
An application can be made in person at any Correos branch or online. At the counter, voters must show an original national identity card, passport or driving licence. Appointments are available but not compulsory. The online route avoids that first journey, although it requires an electronic DNI or an accepted digital certificate.
Applicants may nominate an address other than their usual home. That matters for anyone spending the coming weeks elsewhere in the Valencian Community or in another part of Spain. The Electoral Census Office will send the registration certificate, ballot papers, envelopes and instructions there by recorded delivery. The official calendar places these deliveries between 9 and 22 November.
The pack is handed over personally. Anyone who is out when delivery is attempted must collect it from the branch named on the notice. Once it arrives, the chosen ballot goes into the voting envelope, which is sealed and placed with the census certificate inside the larger envelope addressed to the relevant polling station.
An accepted application changes how the vote can be cast
There is one consequence that often causes confusion. Once the application has been accepted, the voter cannot cast another ballot in person on 29 November, even if the postal envelope is never ultimately handed in. The census is marked to prevent the same person from voting by both routes.
The final envelope cannot simply be dropped into a letterbox. Correos requires it to be handed over at a branch and, for this election, asks the voter to do so personally. Someone who cannot attend may authorise another person using the postal operator’s form. The representative must carry the signed authorisation, a copy of the voter’s identity document and their own identification.
The official deadline is 25 November, subject to each branch’s opening hours. Correos will hold the envelopes securely and deliver them to polling stations on election day. Different rules apply to permanent overseas residents and to people temporarily outside Spain; most application windows for those routes closed in October.
The next milestone comes on 9 November, when ballot packs begin to be dispatched. If a pack has not arrived after the first days of the delivery period, enquiries should be directed to the appropriate provincial delegation of the Electoral Census Office.