Guide to voting on 25 September
Who can vote Where and when to vote What to bring with you The electoral law Single-member and proportional colleges The distribution of seats The ballot papers How to vote What is forbidden What are they and what are they for? for the future of Italy
Who can vote
For the first time in Republican history, all the people registered on the electoral roll of their own Municipality, with more than eighteen years old, will be able to vote both in the Chamber and in the Senate, while up to now the vote in the Senate was only granted at the age of twenty-five. All persons who have undergone definitive criminal convictions, with sentences exceeding 5 years of age or in the event of life imprisonment, are excluded from the vote. While inmates with lower sentences can vote inside prisons.Where and when you vote
You can only vote in your municipality of residence, at the polling station indicated on your voting card with number and address. The polling stations will be open from 7 to 23, only on Sunday 25 September 2022.But exactly how do you vote on September 25th? Instructions to get ready for the polls: how the Rosatellum electoral law, single-member constituencies, blocked lists and multiple candidacies work
What to bring with you
To be able to exercise your right to vote, before going to the polling station You must have an identification document issued by the public administration with a photo, such as an identity card, driving license or passport. The document may also have expired. The cards issued by the National Union of official leave of Italy and the cards of a professional order, such as the order of journalists, can also be used, but only if they have a photograph.Together with the identity document , it is absolutely necessary to have your electoral card with you. Those who have lost it, or have run out of spaces for the stamps confirming the exercise of their right to vote, must request a duplicate or a new ballot at the relevant electoral office or at the registry office.
Which law will we vote on when we go to the elections The Rosatellum, the new electoral law, provides for a mixed majority and proportional system. The composition of the Parliament will change: the seats between the Senate and the Chamber will be 600, against the current 945
The electoral law
The electoral law currently in force is the so-called Rosatellum, a mixed system both majority and proportional. In each branch of Parliament, 37% of the representatives will be elected with the majority system in the single-member constituencies (146 in the Chamber and 74 in the Senate), 61% with the proportional system in the multi-member constituencies (245 in the chamber and 122 in the Senate) and the remaining 2% with the vote from abroad, through a proportional system with preferential voting on a circumscription basis.With the majority system, which rewards the formation of coalitions, whoever gets one more vote than the others gets the majority of seats in Parliament. In every single constituency, coalitions and lists run against each other, each with only one candidate (single-member constituencies) and whoever arrives in first place wins the seat.
With the proportional system, on the other hand, a party gets a percentage of seats in parliament based on the votes taken in the elections. For example, a list that obtains 20% of the votes will have won 20% of the seats.
What are the single-member and multi-member constituencies of the electoral law In the former, the parties nominate a name, which is enough for even one vote more than the opponents to be elected. Here is how the seats will be assigned in the elections of 25 September
Single-member and proportional colleges
For the election of the representatives to the Chamber, the Italian territory was divided into 28 electoral districts: 14 coincide with a region, while the remaining with one or more provinces of the 6 most populous regions. For the Senate, however, there are only 20 districts and exactly follow the regional division. Depending on the number of inhabitants, each region is assigned a variable number of plurinominal constituencies and for each plurinominal constituency one or more uninominal constituencies are indicated.Uninominal constituencies in which only one representative is elected , plurinominal those in which more than one is elected. Single-member constituencies are assigned with the majority method. The seats of plurinominal constituencies through the proportional method.
For example, the Tuscany constituency, for the Chamber, has three plurinominal constituencies. The first (Toscana 01) includes three single-member colleges: Massa, Lucca and Prato. Each party nominates a maximum of four names in order of preference to the plurinominal college. At the single-member constituency the parties of the same coalition agree to indicate a single name. The voters and the electricians of Massa will therefore have on the ballot the same names as Lucca and Prato for the plurinominal, but different names for the uninominal.
How are the ballots of September 25 made The yellow is for the Senate, the rose for the House. The cards will show the symbols of the parties, grouped by coalition, the names of the candidates for the uninominal and those who run for the plurinominal. How to vote
The ballot papers
In all the polling stations, two ballot papers of different colors will be delivered: a pink one for the Chamber and a yellow one for the Senate. Inside the cards you will find several rectangles containing the symbols of the parties, grouped by coalition, with a list of names on the side and a single name written in capital letters above.The candidate whose name it is written in capital letters, they compete for single-member colleges. While the candidates whose names are printed in lowercase next to the party symbols, compete for plurinominal constituencies. Proportional candidates are "blocked", that is, preference cannot be expressed.
Facsimile ballot paper Senate Lazio 1 Prefecture of Rome
How to vote
Each elector expresses two votes, one for the Chamber and one for the Senate, and this vote is valid for both single-member and multi-member constituencies. To vote, you just need to draw an X, on both cards, on the symbol of the party or coalition you want to vote, or on the name of the candidate or candidate for the uninominal. In the first case, their vote will be assigned both to the candidates for the multi-member of the chosen party, and to the candidate or the candidate for the single-member. In the second case, however, the vote will be given to the candidate or the candidate of the uninominal, but it will then also be divided among all the parties that support it, therefore to the entire coalition. Finally, it is also possible to make an X both on the party symbol and on the relative candidate for the uninominal.The vote is valid even if the X is drawn on the list of candidates for the plurinominal, but it is not possible vote for just one of these. The lists are in fact blocked and the seats will in any case be divided according to the list in which they appear. Furthermore, it is not possible to express a separate vote, that is to draw an X both on the name of a single-member candidate and on a party other than those that support it.
Facsimile ballot paper Lazio Chamber 1 Prefecture of Rome
What is forbidden
It is not possible to vote in a polling station other than your own, even if you are domiciled and are studying or working outside your region of residence. According to the law, only people admitted to hospitals and nursing homes, the military, the police and members of the section electoral office can vote outside their own municipality.You cannot enter the voting booth with mobile phone or smartphone, which must be delivered first to the scrutineers, no photos can be taken of the ballot, no other tools can be used to vote except the copying pencil provided by the polling stations and it is not possible to enter the booth accompanied by children minors. Furthermore, it is forbidden to go to the polling station armed, even if in possession of a regular license to carry a firearm.
Why do you use the copying pencil to vote It is the only authorized tool to indicate your preference on the ballot paper, for a whole series of features
What are the anti-fraud coupons and stamps for
The anti-fraud coupon is located in the lower part of the ballot paper, located under the panel of the teller's signature and the section stamp. Each seat is supplied with a reel of 3,000 stickers with a progressive code consisting of numbers and letters. The stamps are applied by the president of the polling station and by the scrutineers in the appropriate box on the anti-fraud coupons of all the ballot papers, both those for the election of the Chamber and those for the Senate. The coupon and stamp are used to ensure that the ballot returned by the voter after voting is the same as the one assigned to him on his arrival.Upon delivery of the ballot, the polling chairman asks the voter to copy the sticker code, next to his name on the sectional form. After leaving the booth, the voter must return the folded ballot papers to the polling station president, who will check whether the code of the stamp on the coupon of the ballot corresponds to the one marked by the voter next to the name or not.
After checking the correspondence of the code, the chairman of the polling station removes the anti-fraud coupon and inserts it in one of the two envelopes supplied with the polling station, one for the coupons present on the ballots to elect the Senate, the other for those present on the ballots to elect the Chamber. Both envelopes are then sent to the court to prevent the coupons from being tampered with. If, when the voter returns the ballot, the anti-fraud coupon and the anti-fraud badge do not appear or the code on the badge is not the same as the one marked by the voter on the sectional ballot, the vote is canceled and the voter does not can vote again.
What is the anti-fraud coupon on ballot papers for? Introduced with the law November 3, 2017, it will also be present on the ballot papers on Sunday 25 September. Here is a useful review of how it works and how to behave at the polling station
