The election to choose the members of the Parliament of Catalonia is being held on 14 February. There are 365 polling stations located around Barcelona’s ten districts, 129 of which have been newly created. Extra municipal support and cleaning staff have been organised to ensure all health and safety measures for Covid-19 at polling stations, with disinfection tasks on the premises and in surrounding areas stepped up.
Polling stations open at 9 am and will close at 8 pm on the dot. The 365 polling stations will be disinfected, with proper ventilation and spaces conditioned to avoid build-ups of people. In all there are 1,929 voting points, with 4,403 ballot boxes. Some 1,800,000 ballot papers have been printed for the election, with the 15 candidacies for the province of Barcelona in the elections to the Parliament of Catalonia.
The city’s electoral roll consists of 1,099,282 voters officially registered as residing in Barcelona as of 1 October 2020. The new polling stations mean that nearly one in four voters (37% of the electoral roll) will be voting at a location which differs from their usual one. Elderly people on the electoral roll in Barcelona can check which polling station they should exercise their right to vote at on the virtual procedures website or by calling 010.
You can find all the data on the Catalan parliamentary election on 14 February and the historical data for previous elections in this information dossier.
Municipal operation
The various cleaning teams will be tasked with cleaning and disinfecting voting points before, during and after the election, as well as the safe removal of personal protection suits. Early on Sunday morning, the City Police will provide the electoral documentation for 105 polling stations. Once the count is completed, they will the collect it and deliver it to the Provincial Electoral Board. A thousand volunteers from Barcelona City Council will provide a boost for support staff at polling stations and help guarantee that the voting points comply with the established health and safety protocols.
The Citizen Help and Information Office in Plaça de Sant Miquel will be open throughout polling day, from 9 am to 7 pm, providing general information on the election, helping people check their polling station and giving proof-of-residency documents to those who were on the city register prior to the generation of the electoral census on 1 October 2020, but who do not appear on the electoral roll.
What to bear in mind?
When you go to vote you must take original personal ID with a photograph on it (national ID card, passport or driving licence), which is valid even if it is out of date. People are recommended to prepare their ballot paper at home beforehand and to go to the polling station during the recommended voting times.
And at the polling station?
- Go alone, unless you need assistance, and use the access point indicated.
- Respect the safety distance of 1.5 metres in queues, inside and outside the polling station.
- Face masks are obligatory.
- Hand sanitiser will be available at different points on the premises and next to the ballot papers and envelopes.
- When voting, you must show your ID at the voting point while keeping your distance.
- Staff at the voting point may ask voters to momentarily remove their face mask.
More information at : barcelona.cat/activitats-afectades.