The electoral card
What it is, how to get one, and what to do if it is lost or full — including getting a duplicate on polling day itself.
What is the electoral card?
It is the personal, permanent document issued free of charge by your comune — the municipality you are resident in — which proves your right to vote and on which the polling station records each time you vote.
It replaced the old electoral certificate, which used to be delivered before every election. It carries the holder’s personal details, address, polling station number and electoral districts, and has no fewer than eighteen spaces for the stamps.
Source: Art. 1 and 2, d.P.R. 299/2000
How do you get an electoral card?
The comune delivers it to your home, in a sealed envelope, when you are first entered on the electoral roll.
Delivery is confirmed by the signature of the holder or of a household member. If the voter cannot be found, the card goes back to the comune’s electoral office and is held there. Voters resident abroad collect theirs from the comune where they are registered, at the first election they attend.
Source: Art. 3, d.P.R. 299/2000
Is the electoral card enough on its own?
No: the polling station needs the electoral card and, alongside it, an identity document bearing a photograph.
An identity card or any other document issued by a public authority will do; expired documents are valid too, provided they are otherwise in order and identify the voter reliably, as are photographic membership cards issued by professional bodies. Without a suitable document, a member of the polling board who knows the voter personally may vouch for their identity.
Source: Art. 57, d.P.R. 361/1957
What if you have lost your electoral card?
The comune issues a duplicate on request, accompanied by the report made to the police.
If the card is instead damaged and unusable, the duplicate is issued on request and on handing in the original — no police report needed.
Source: Art. 4, d.P.R. 299/2000
What the comune does, depending on what has happened
Five situations, three answers. A police report is needed in one case out of five.
A duplicate
The same card, reprinted. Stamps already on it are not recovered: the duplicate starts from the free spaces.
The card is lost or stolen
What you needan application to the comune, together with the report made to the police
The card is damaged and unusable
What you needan application to the comune and the original handed in — no police report
A new card
A different document, with a fresh block of spaces for the stamps.
The stamp spaces are used up
What you needa request to the comune. The card never expires: it is renewed only when the space runs out
You have moved to another comune
What you neednothing: the new comune issues it and withdraws the old one
An adhesive update slip
The card stays the same and the stamps already on it remain valid. The slip is stuck onto the card.
Your address or polling station has changed within the same comune
What you neednothing: the comune’s electoral office sends it
None of the five costs you your vote: the card is a replaceable document, and the comune replaces it even on polling day itself (the question below says how).
It is still worth checking the free spaces beforehand. The card never expires and nobody warns you when the spaces are about to run out: you find out by looking.
What if all the stamp spaces are used up?
The comune issues a new card at the holder’s request.
The card itself never expires: it is renewed when the spaces certifying participation run out, and replaced when the details printed on it change. Check the remaining spaces before polling day rather than on the day.
Source: Art. 4, d.P.R. 299/2000
Can you get a duplicate on polling day itself?
Yes. The municipal electoral office stays open from 9am to 6pm on the two days before the vote and, on polling day, for the whole of voting hours.
That is exactly what the opening is for: handing out undelivered cards, duplicates and renewals, each recorded in a dedicated register. It applies at every election and referendum.
Source: Art. 1(400), law 147/2013
What happens if you move house?
If you move to another comune, the new one issues a new card and withdraws the old one.
For a change of address or polling station within the same comune, the electoral office instead sends an adhesive update slip that the voter sticks onto the card: the card stays the same and the stamps already on it remain valid.
Source: Art. 4, d.P.R. 299/2000
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