Step 1 of 5 · You
Find your table
Every voter is assigned to one polling station and table (mesa). The census office (Oficina del Censo Electoral, part of INE) shows where you vote.
✶ Polling day · Sunday 29 November 2026 · 9:00–20:00
Two envelopes,
two ballots.
Spaniards aged 18 and over are registered automatically. On polling day you show ID at your table and cast one closed list for the Congress and up to three names for the Senate. You can also vote by post, and from abroad.
Before polling day
You are already
on the roll.
-
The census
Being on the census is compulsory, and town halls register residents automatically; consulates register Spaniards living abroad (LOREG art. 32). There is nothing to apply for.
Oficina del Censo Electoral ↗ -
Postal vote
Apply in person at any post office, with your DNI, from the day the election is called until the tenth day before the vote: 19 November 2026 this time (art. 72). The ballots are then posted to you.
Correos ↗ -
Living abroad
The census office now mails the ballots automatically to every voter registered abroad (art. 75, as amended by LO 12/2022). From 2011 they had to apply first, the "voto rogado", which the 2022 reform ended.
LO 12/2022 ↗ -
Polling-station duty
Each table's president and two members are drawn by public lot from its voters who can read and write and are under 70; the president needs at least a Bachillerato or equivalent (art. 26). Serving is compulsory, though you have seven days to give a justified excuse (art. 27).
LOREG arts. 26–27 ↗
Polling day
Polling day
From the door to the urn
What happens at your polling station.
Step 2 of 5 · The table
Show ID
Your right to vote is shown by being on the certified census list and by identifying yourself with your DNI, passport or driving licence with a photo (LOREG art. 85.1).
Step 3 of 5 · You
Two envelopes
Put one Congress list in the Congress envelope, and the Senate ballot, with up to three names marked, in the Senate envelope. An envelope with no ballot is a blank vote (art. 96.5).
Step 4 of 5 · The table president
Into the urns
The vote is secret; you may take the ballots into the booth. You give your name to the president and the table members check it against the list (art. 86). Voting runs from 9:00 to 20:00 without interruption (art. 84.1).
Step 5 of 5 · The table, in public
The count
The count starts as soon as voting ends and is public (art. 95). The official general count by the electoral boards takes place on the fifth day after the vote (art. 103.1).
Try the ballots · real 2026 candidacies
A list for the Congress,
names for the Senate.
For the Congress you choose a party's list as printed. For the Senate every candidate is on one ballot, and you may mark up to three in a province, two in Gran Canaria, Mallorca, Tenerife, Ceuta and Melilla, and one in the other islands (art. 96.3).
Congress · Soria · 2 deputies
Pick one party's printed list and put it in the envelope. Its order cannot be changed.
Senate · Soria · 4 seats
Mark up to 3 names, from any party.
Congress · Madrid · 38 deputies
Pick one party's printed list and put it in the envelope. Its order cannot be changed.
Senate · Madrid · 4 seats
Mark up to 3 names, from any party.
Congress · Balearic Islands · 8 deputies
Pick one party's printed list and put it in the envelope. Its order cannot be changed.
Senate · Formentera · 1 seat
Mark up to 1 name, from any party.
Candidates as proclaimed for 29 November 2026 (BOE-A-2026-23103). Nothing you mark here is recorded.
LOREG art. 96
Valid, blank
or null.
Valid
One official Congress ballot in its envelope; a Senate ballot with up to the permitted number of names marked. Two identical Congress ballots in one envelope count once (art. 96.1).
Blank
An envelope with no ballot, or a Senate ballot with no name marked. Blank votes are valid: they count towards the 3% threshold a list needs to win Congress seats, so they raise the bar for small parties (arts. 96.5, 163).
Null
A non-official ballot, ballots of different lists in one envelope, names crossed out or added, the order changed, any writing, or too many Senate names (art. 96.1–3). Null votes count in turnout only.
Access
Voting
with help.
A person you trust
Voters who cannot read, or whose disability prevents them from choosing or handling the ballot, may be helped by a person of their choice (art. 87.1).
Blind voters
The law requires a procedure that lets blind and visually impaired voters vote in secret in general elections (art. 87.2).
Polling hours
Voting runs from 9:00 to 20:00 local time; the Canary Islands are an hour behind the peninsula (art. 84.1).