“I did not receive it. I waited until the last minute. I thought I would receive it since several friends did, but nothing. In the last few days, I called the Embassy to ask if I could go there or if there was another solution. They told me that as I hadn’t registered to vote in person, I couldn’t vote, and maybe there was some mailing error,” Nuno Ramos told news agency Lusa.
Ramos, who has been living in the German capital for almost 18 years, clarified that he had not changed his address in the past year, and in previous elections, he received the letter at home without any issues.
A source from the Portuguese Embassy in Berlin confirmed they are “aware of more cases,” without specifying how many.
“We advise voters to use the voter portal to track the mailing of the ballot, check if the address details are correct, and use that platform to obtain more clarifications regarding the process,” the source added.
Leonor Barahona also awaited the letter that never arrived at either her new or old address.
“On May 6, I traveled to Portugal because I had planned vacations. I asked if it would be possible to vote in person as I was on national territory. They told me it wouldn’t be possible and that I could not vote as I was registered abroad and vote by mail,” she shared with Lusa.
Leonor contacted the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Internal Administration (SGMAI), which responded by stating “it’s not possible to control the postal services of the destination countries,” adding that the “Electoral Administration does everything to ensure that all Portuguese citizens residing abroad have the possibility to exercise their right to vote.”
“It’s frustrating because I tried to communicate before and during, and had no chance to vote,” she lamented.
Ana Rita Costa and her husband also did not receive their letters, although the previous elections went smoothly.
“This is the first time in our lives that we didn’t vote,” lamented the Portuguese resident in Berlin, who sent an inquiry to the legal office of the National Election Commission (CNE).
In response, the CNE reminded that “since the option is to vote by mail, it is not possible to exercise the vote in person,” referring to the SGMAI for “the sending of documents for mail voting by voters registered abroad.”
Ana Rita Costa added that she checked the Voter Portal using her Citizen’s Card number and found that both her and her husband’s ballots were in Lisbon.
When asked about similar situations in other parts of the country, community counselor Manuel Machado mentioned being aware of four cases where the letter didn’t arrive, and several other cases where the ballot arrived only on Saturday.
