A group of parliamentarians from the Broad Front proposed a project that seeks to expand the universe of people who can be exempted from the fines involved in not going to vote in the exit plebiscite on September 4, where voting is mandatory.
Who does not vote, will be punished with a fine that will fluctuate between 0.5 to 3 UTM, which translates into an amount of $30 thousand to $178 thousand.
As established by the reform that enabled the constituent process, for this plebiscite, all those voters who have “failed to fulfill their obligation due to illness, absence from the country, being that day in a place located more than 200 kilometers from the one where your electoral domicile is registered or due to another serious impediment, duly verified before the competent judge, who will assess the evidence in accordance with the rules of sound judgment”.
For this reason, the initiative seeks that people over 75 years of age and those who work in care of people cannot be sanctioned, given that the cessation of their work may imply “a threat to the life, physical integrity or health of the person cared for”.
These groups -currently- can only excuse themselves from being board members or members of the Scrutinizing College, if they have been designated by the Servel.
On the other hand, there is a project presented by parliamentarians from the Broad Front and Democratic Socialism, which seeks to guarantee an alternative mechanism to voting in person, in order to allow people with reduced mobility, severe dependency or who require intense support to vote. as well as caregivers who, for various reasons related to this, cannot leave their home.
For this, they propose the implementation of mobile ballot boxes -for exceptional cases- qualified by Servel through coordinated work between the entity, municipalities and the National Disability Service (Senadis).
Both texts were analyzed last Wednesday by the Internal Government Commission of the Chamber of Deputies. In the instance, the deputy of Social Convergence Gael Yeomans -co-author of both projects- requested the support of the Government to advance quickly.
This, taking into consideration that there are only 17 days left for the exit plebiscite that will define whether or not Chile will have a new Constitution.
