How to vote from abroad (AIRE)

Who can vote from abroad?

Italian citizens aged 18 or over who live abroad and are registered with AIRE vote by post, without returning to Italy.

The electoral rolls of the Overseas constituency are built by merging the register of Italians resident abroad with consular records. Anyone not registered with AIRE gets no ballot pack and votes, like everyone else, at their polling station in Italy. Being abroad temporarily does not give a right to vote by post.

Source: Art. 1 and 5, law 459/2001

Can you vote in Italy instead of by post?

Yes, but you have to ask: written notice must reach your diplomatic or consular representation by 31 December 2026.

That deadline is 31 December of the year before the legislature is due to expire, and once it passes the pack comes in the post regardless: it is the only date in the whole electoral calendar that is already fixed, and the only one an elector cannot recover from. If parliament is dissolved early the option must instead be exercised within ten days of the election being called.

It is valid for that election only and must be renewed each time. Anyone who opts in votes at the polling station of the Italian comune where they are registered, on the domestic ballots, and so plays no part in electing the Overseas representatives.

Source: Art. 1(3) and art. 4, law 459/2001

How does the ballot arrive, and what is in the pack?

The consulate posts the pack to your registered address no later than the eighteenth day before polling day in Italy.

It contains the electoral certificate, the ballot — or two ballots, Chamber and Senate —, the white envelope they go into, a prepaid envelope already addressed to the consulate, an instruction sheet and the candidate lists for your division. One pack may never contain the documents of more than one voter.

Source: Art. 12, law 459/2001

What if the pack never arrives?

If it has not arrived fourteen days before the vote, you can ask the head of your consulate for another one.

The consulate records the request in a register and issues a fresh electoral certificate, bearing a special seal, together with a second ballot. The return deadlines are unchanged.

Source: Art. 12(5), law 459/2001

By when must the envelope be posted back?

It must be posted no later than the tenth day before the date set for voting in Italy.

To be counted, though, it has to reach the consulate by 4pm local time on the Thursday before polling day: from there the envelopes travel in a single consignment, by air and in the diplomatic bag. Ballots arriving after that deadline are neither opened nor counted — they are incinerated, and a record is made of it.

Source: Art. 12(6)-(8), law 459/2001

How do you mark the overseas ballot?

Put a mark on the symbol of your preferred list and, if you wish, write the surnames of your preferred candidates on the lines provided.

You get two preference votes in divisions electing two or more representatives, one elsewhere. A preference for a candidate on another list is void; if the ballot carries only a preference, the vote still counts for that candidate’s list. Unlike in Italy, the Overseas constituency has no single-member districts and its lists are not closed.

Source: Art. 11, law 459/2001

What mistakes void a postal vote?

The polling board voids, without counting them, any ballots in an envelope that is open, torn, or carries identifying marks.

Also voided are ballots in an envelope containing more than one certificate stub — so two people in the same household cannot post together —, a stub from a voter who has already voted, or a stub from a voter belonging to a different division. Neither the ballots nor the inner envelope may bear identifying marks. If you are voting for both chambers, both ballots go in the same envelope.

Source: Art. 12 and 14, law 459/2001

What does the Overseas constituency elect?

Eight deputies and four senators: 8 of the Chamber’s 400 seats and 4 of the Senate’s 200.

Those two figures are fixed by the Constitution (artt. 56 and 57). The four divisions are the work of the overseas-voting law instead — Europe, including the Asian territories of the Russian Federation and of Turkey; South America; North and Central America; Africa, Asia, Oceania and Antarctica — which has each of them elect one deputy and one senator and shares the remaining seats in proportion to the number of Italian citizens resident there, by whole quotients and largest remainders. Before the reduction in the number of parliamentarians the seats were 12 and 6.

Source: Art. 6, law 459/2001