Illustrative stock photo (source: Sme)
If you are not at home by the time of the elections but would like to vote you are out of luck. Unlike general or presidential elections, people can cast votes only from their permanent residence.
The state argues that for regional elections, Slovakia is divided into 92 constituencies, while in general elections, there has just been a single constituency, since the era of Vladimír Mečiar and his HZDS party.
In practice, issuing a voting card that would enable voters to come to any ballot-box is out of question.
Casting vote by post
A person with permanent residence in Sobrance cannot cast their vote in Martin, since they would not get slates with candidates for the constituency. Since there are no voting cards, it is not even possible to vote in a neighbouring village that is part of the same constituency. The law does not consider such a situation.
Casting a vote by post could be possible, as is true during general elections for Slovaks living abroad.
In that case, the voter receives an advance voting card and an envelope they send to a given address. The Interior Ministry, which controls the elections, has not considered such a possibility as of now.
“The issue of voting by post has never been even tabled, and so there have been no analyses scrutinising this possibility,” ministry spokesperson Andrea Dobiášová explains.
