Puente stays on Valladolid PSOE ballot after quitting, crossed-out votes stay valid

The ruling

Valladolid's Junta Electoral Provincial ruled on Thursday, 5 November, that Óscar Puente will remain on the PSOE list for Congress in Valladolid, even though he has given up his candidacy. The board rejected a PSOE request to remove his name from the printed ballots, because his resignation arrived after the candidacies had already been proclaimed. Ana Redondo, the minister for equality, who was second on the list, will now be treated as its head. The 29 November election will therefore be held on a ballot that still shows Puente at the top.

Why the ballot cannot be reprinted

The board relied on a long-standing doctrine that ballots cannot be changed once candidacies are proclaimed, citing precedents from 1977, 1986 and 1996. Its reasoning is that voters in Congress elections choose lists rather than individuals, and seats are awarded to a list in the order its names appear. Puente's withdrawal is therefore covered by the next candidates in line. The PSOE had asked for the ballots to be reprinted without him, but the ballots were already at the printer, a point the party itself acknowledged.

Crossed-out names count as valid

In a second decision, the board told the presidents of polling stations to treat as valid any ballot on which a voter crosses out the name of a candidate who has resigned. The board explained its reasoning in its resolution:

“Crossing out a name only adjusts the ballot to the reality of the candidacy at the time of voting, so the voter's intent remains beyond question.”

The board also pointed to a 2011 decision of the central electoral board on the same question, which holds that such a crossing out does not make a ballot void.

How the resignation unfolded

Puente announced his resignation as transport minister and his decision not to stand in the election in a surprise move on Tuesday, 3 November, according to EL PAÍS. That same day the BOE published the proclaimed candidacies, including the PSOE list for Valladolid. On Wednesday, 4 November, at midday, Puente filed a written resignation with the provincial board. That afternoon the PSOE's representative before the board, Francisco Ferreira, sent a request to remove the name from the ballot. Party leadership sources said they had no guarantee the change would be made.

What happens next

PSOE sources in Castilla y León told EFE that the crossed-out-name rule was a lesser evil, and said the party would run a voter education campaign so that crossings would not hurt its candidacy in Valladolid. The board is chaired by the president of the Valladolid Audiencia, Francisco Javier Carranza. Puente can only put his decision not to take up a seat into effect after the vote, by not collecting the seat if he is elected.