The polls for the European elections will be set up in 15 days but voters who will be voting by mail must hurry as the deadline to exercise their right to vote expires in a few days.

The process of delivering the election materials to 202,516 voters in every corner of Greece and in more than 120 countries abroad it is almost complete, as by noon on Friday May 24, more than 194,000 had received it, i.e. approximately 96% of those registered.

The smooth handling of the most difficult phase of the new venture gives the government optimism for the adoption of postal voting in the national elections, as after the European elections relevant legislation will be tabled as announced by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Minister of the Interior Niki Kerameos.

Over the same period of time, the sealed ballots of over 60,000 voters arrived at the postal vote sorting center via courier, meaning that 2 out of 3 voters have not received their ballots.

It is reminded that in order for the postal votes to be counted, they must reach their final destination by the eve of the elections, specifically by Saturday, June 8, at 17:00 Greek time. To be within the deadline, voters abroad should send the envelope with the ballot no later than the day after tomorrow, Tuesday, May 28, while those residing in Greece by Monday, June 3 if the envelope is received by an employee of the postal company and by Tuesday June 4 in the event that they deposit the file directly at one of the company’s stores.

If the envelope does not arrive in time in the postal vote collection area, it is returned to the sender unopened. In this case, as well as for those who do not send the envelope at all, they will be able to vote in person at the polling station where they are registered on election day, but after 11.00 am.

As the mail-in voters will have noticed, the ballot is uniform. On one page it shows all 31 parties participating in the European elections and the voter puts a cross on the one he chooses or on the distinct option “I do not choose any of the above – I vote white”. On the back page is a table with numbers from 1 to 42, which is the maximum number of candidates each party can have. The voter chooses from none to four candidates by marking the number corresponding to each, as it is written on the list of candidates included in the election materials. Then in a separate field he should circle (or alternatively mark with an “x” or a period) the total number of selected candidates (from 0 to 4).

If the voter does not fill in the total number of preference crosses in the relevant field, the ballot is considered valid as far as the combination is concerned, however no preference cross is taken into account. The same applies if he chooses more than four candidates.

Conversely, ballots will be considered invalid:

a. candidates selected but no combination,

b. that have been selected in more than one combination,

c. which are not in postal vote envelopes,

d. bearing dots, points or words,

e. that have a shape or dimensions that are clearly different from the normal ballot paper (A4 or Letter paper size) and

f. which are found in the same envelope together with one or more other ballots or other documents or materials.

The voters who will vote by mail have been divided into 237 polling stations, which are housed in the exhibition center of Peristeri, where it is the final destination of envelopes with postal votes from all over the world. For security reasons, the premises are guarded by the Police and monitored by closed-circuit television 24 hours a day.

The files are received by a special committee and after recording them, they are kept in special ballot boxes. On the day of the European elections, these ballot boxes will be handed over to the postal vote sorting electoral committees, which will open the envelopes, check the voters’ details and separate the voting envelopes, which they will place in the ballot boxes. At 19:00, when the voting ends, the polls will open and the postal votes will be counted, at the same time as the votes across the country.