Voting Day in Cuba: District Number 12, Plaza de la Revolución Municipality,

Ciudad de la Habana Province
by Arnold August
January 22, 2008

Yesterday January 20 voters across the island voted for candidates as delegates to the Provincial Assemblies and deputies to the National Assembly of Peoples Power.

I concentrated my observation and attendance in one electoral district in order to provide readers of my forthcoming book a detailed and easily comprehensible understanding and appreciation of how voting takes place in Cuba.  I am presenting here today some brief impressions. The full description replete with my own photos will appear in the 2009 publication.

Polling stations are open from 7 A.M. to 6 P.M., always on a Sunday.  District #12 is one of 109 districts comprising the Municipality. The district consists of no more than 8 square blocks. The provincial delegates as well as the deputies to be elected will be representing the entire municipality. The deputies are also responsible for the nation and the provincial delegates for the entire province.

There are so many things to say about voting day in Cuba. I will concentrate on just one point today, an issue that may seem banal to many Cubans, but to many others who live in other countries, it is something to take into account: voting in Cuba is easy.

Everyone sixteen years and over has the right to vote. There is a register of residents that is continuously updated throughout the year whether there are elections or not. In the period preceding the elections and in conjunction with the local neighbourhood committees (CDRs) this register is converted into a voting list comprised of people who will have reached voting age by the time of elections. This update has been going on since last summer heading into the municipal elections held last October as the first stage of these 2007/2008 general elections. For yesterday’s national and provincial elections the lists have been updated once again last November and December. They are posted in public places and residents have the right to verify and make any corrections, rectify omissions.

The # 12 Electoral District is divided into 5 polling stations, each one comprising several CDRs that serve as the basis for informing their neighbours about voting rights, how voting takes place, logistics, etc.  There are a maximum 300 voters per polling station. The number of voter per polling station has been continuously reduced over the last 10 years in order to further facilitate voting.  In an apartment block which comprises say 200 - 250 voters, there may be several CDRs and the polling station is established in the apartment block itself.  In this case, voters just go to the ground floor. In any case, in the urban areas, no one has to walk more than 150 to 200 meters in order to vote. The 5 polling stations were established in 3 different primary schools within District # 12.  Here is the breakdown of the 5 polling stations in the District.

Polling Station # 1:  239 registered voters

Polling Station # 2:  209 registered voters

Polling Station # 3:  208 registered voters

Polling Station # 4:  264 registered voters

Polling Station # 5:  252 registered voters

Changes can be made on voting day itself to facilitate the application of the Constitution’s universal suffrage right. For example, yesterday, by 11 A.M., in polling station number 3, eight citizens had approached the polling station to be on the voter’s list either because their name was omitted by mistake and it was not noticed by the citizen beforehand (which is rare), or because people are present in the district from another province in order to visit family or friends on pressing matters. All they have to do is show their ID card.

In fact, all voters show up with their ID cards as proof. This is verified by the Electoral Board based on the latest updated version of the electoral list. The Electoral Board is comprised of five people from the neighbourhood established on the basis of mutual consultation between the District Electoral Commission and the citizens. The president is from time to time the same every elections because she or he volunteers and has the experience. For example in polling station number 3, the person who headed the station was  the same yesterday as the one who presided over the elections ten years ago when I observed the same polling station.

The National Election Commission has assured the possibility for people to vote wherever they may be on voting day. For example, if family or friends of a patient happen to be in a hospital visiting or assisting, they can vote in the polling stations established for patients in the hospital. For people in transit, say in a bus station and who will not be able to reach a polling station by the end of the day, they can also vote in bus stations.

In the polling stations visited in District number 12, potential voters are verified by at least two electoral board members as being indicated on the voter’s registration list, or added on if this is case. The polling station posts the photos and biographies of each of the candidate for both levels of government as well as detailed instructions on how to vote and their rights. (Since early December, the photos and bios had been posted in public places and combined with candidate/citizen information meetings; the opportunity exists for voters to get to know the candidates.)

They are then handed two ballots, a pencil and verbally explained how to vote. There is no hurry, no real line ups, as the polling stations never contain more than 300 voters. One ballot is for the National Assembly deputies and the other is the provincial assembly delegates. The voter is then showed the way to a voting booth where the person is isolated and privately votes according to her/his conscience. Once this is done, the voter then deposits the ballots for deputies in one sealed ballot box, and for delegates in another one, with the assistance of pioneers (young primary school students).

What happens if one is an elderly person or temporarily immobilized? The family or neighbours informs the local CDR which in turn informs the electoral board. I accompanied the electoral board representative and two Pioneers who went to meet several elderly people (one 92 years old and in a wheel chair).  

During each visit, the voter is explained the voting procedures, handed ballots and fills them out. The ballots are then handed to the pioneers who fold them into an envelope and along with the electoral board representative walk the one block to the polling station to deposit the ballots in the boxes.

How does voting take place in the rural areas? I will be dealing with this in the forthcoming publication based on my experience 10 years ago in rural Cienfuegos.