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04/03/2008, 12:51 opas Joined on 23/08/2004 catalonia, top of the hill en route to the Chateau Posts 2,175 Re: EU citizens: your right to vote in France We received our voting papers yesterday, Now I am really confused as I had a particular person in mind to vote for sue to his statement of family values etc.........then today I bought our local paper and there was photo in there of his equipe, one is on a charge for assaulting Mr O and his wife is named too......she regularly gives her kids such a crack I am supprised he hasn`t got brain damage!    Report

04/03/2008, 16:44 Lisleoise Joined on 15/12/2005 Périgord Vert (NW Dordogne) Posts 860 Re: EU citizens: your right to vote in France Simple, just cross off the name that you don't want.     Report

05/03/2008, 7:46 opas Joined on 23/08/2004 catalonia, top of the hill en route to the Chateau Posts 2,175 Re: EU citizens: your right to vote in France I understand that bit, but if there are only 2 lists that have these 2 offending peoples names crossed out  WILL IT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE? or do I have to go on a campain of my own to tout up other voters to cross them off too? I really do feel strongly on this.    Report

05/03/2008, 12:09 Lisleoise Joined on 15/12/2005 Périgord Vert (NW Dordogne) Posts 860 Re: EU citizens: your right to vote in France You can cross off as many names as you want to.  As long as you don't exceed the number of seats available that's OK.  If there are two listes then depending on how everyone votes then the resulting council can be made up of a panachage of the two listes (ie: mixed) and so if enough people cross off these names they may not win a place - but it does depend on voting as a whole because if one liste gets 50%+ of the votes the entire liste wins. Complicated but possible!  If you feel really strongly then I would speak to as many people as possible so that they also cross off these names.    Report

05/03/2008, 12:19 oscar Joined on 28/02/2008 Posts 38 Re: EU citizens: your right to vote in France I'm still confused by all this!  Does that mean that if there is someone on the Maire's list that he has sent round that I don't want to vote for, and mostother people in the village didn't want him in either (this is all hypothetical of course) but the Maire's liste got 60% of the vote, this man would get elected anyway?  Or if, for example, his name got crossed off by a lot of people and someone who was standing alone got more votes than him, would that independent get put onto the council in place of the Maire's choice who wasn't popular in the commune?  Confused?  I AM. Also, we've received our voting cards and now we've had two copies of the list from the Maire (and in fact two slips from a couple of independants) what do we do with all this paperwork on Sunday?  If I want to vote for everyone on the Maire's list - they're a nice enough bunch, what do I do?    Report

05/03/2008, 12:35 opas Joined on 23/08/2004 catalonia, top of the hill en route to the Chateau Posts 2,175 Re: EU citizens: your right to vote in France We are barking up the same tree Oscar, to make it clearer the people I object to are on an independante liste, not the Maires liste, can someone explain in plain terms what we do with the listes on Sunday?   Mr O had a chat in the street the other day with our Maire, he mentioned that he had had a letter from these people(the ones I do not want in charge of anything to do with my life) saying that they were not viting for him....M le Maire obviously knew they were standing on an independant liste, Le Maires adjunct who has been a helped us a lot in the few years we have been here, when asked, joked to Mr O that he should just put Mle Maires list in the envelope and do nothing with it.....ie vote our present liste in again. Confused? you bet.    Report

05/03/2008, 12:54 Catalpa Joined on 23/08/2004 Southern Manche - 50 Posts 1,455 Re: EU citizens: your right to vote in France This relates to communes of fewer than 2500 people: There may be more than one list. There may be individuals standing who are not on any list. To describe our setup in southern Manche, very small commune: There's the outgoing Maire's list (he's not standing for re-election but the rest of the councillors are) There's the "opposition" list (who happen to want to spend more money than the current gang and are therefore being viewed with some trepidation by the comparitively poor and elderly local population). There is a slip per individual standing for election - ie, individuals not included on a list. You may or may not have received all the names of the people standing before the election takes place - for eg, there might be 2 lists but only one has been delivered to you or individuals may not have called on you. You can take your copies of the lists and slips along to the Mairie on Sunday or there will be copies of the lists / individuals' slips there for you to take into the booth. Make sure you know the maximum number of people for whom you can cast a vote. This can (as someone said) be a mixture of names across all the lists / slips if you choose. Clearly cross out the people you do not want. Don't touch the people you do want. Don't tick their names or anything like that. Check for how many you've cast your vote. (which can be fewer than the maximum). Put your list / lists / lists+slips in the envelope. Drop it in the ballot box. If you have inadvertently voted for more than the maximum (say: across several lists / individuals in your envelope, all in your envelope) the vote will not be counted as it will not be obvious for exactly whom you meant to vote. Now go and pour yourself a stiff drink. A few more things... Your voting card is sent out by the Mairie; if you think you are registered but have not received a voting card, go and ask before Sunday. Your voting card will be stamped indicating you've voted thus preventing you going round again. Keep your voting card - it's valid for more than one election. If you don't think your face is known, take a piece of ID as well. Heck... take a piece of ID anyway. Bizarrely (to my mind) people can put themselves forward for election up until opening of the polls on Sunday morning. They just give their name to the maire. Even more bizarrely, if someone has not put themselves forward for election but a groundswell of opinion would like to elect them, their name can be written on a list by each individual while voting. If elected, they can resign. If a complete list has more than the maximum number to be elected on it (say 11 places but 13 names) if that list is placed in the envelope with no names crossed out, it will be counted as one vote for each of the first 11 on the list. Shame about the last two. And finally, if you have time or inclination, go to the count at the Mairie after voting has closed. Which, in the smaller communes, is 6pm I think. Anyone can go to the count - we went to the counts after the Presidential voting - but with the potential muddle of lists / slips / new names etc, this time, I think it will be worth watching.    Report

06/03/2008, 10:54 Hereford Joined on 27/08/2004 Posts 212 Re: EU citizens: your right to vote in France OK Catalpa, mostly got that!  Our commune has about 150 able to vote (including us).  We have received one list with two names on it, that is all. We know from the local paper that one other person is standing but have heard nothing from/about her.  We have no idea how many vacancies there are.  Our mayor is not standing for re-election - possibly the one list we have is "his"?? Questions: 1.  Apart from the obvious one of asking, how do we know how many vacancies there are? 2.  Do we understand it correctly that you just put the list/slip in the official envelope with no cross in any box?  In other words so long as the name is not crossed off you are voting for them? We would like to look as if we know what we are doing on Sunday.  Thanks Mrs H    Report

06/03/2008, 11:24 Catalpa Joined on 23/08/2004 Southern Manche - 50 Posts 1,455 Re: EU citizens: your right to vote in France Hello Mrs H I thought I'd beaten everyone into submission by the length and apparent complexity of my post. It's difficult to make it really simple because there are qualifiers to practically every statement. I think, based on the size of our commune, you have 11 vacancies to be filled. There is probably a website (Clair may have posted it in this or another thread?) that tells you but I think you will look as if you know what you are doing if you ask about the maximum number when you go to the Mairie to vote. Yes - list / slips in the envelope with no crossing off indicates a vote for everyone in your envelope. If you do not put the slip for an individual into your envelope, for eg, effectively you've crossed them off. Check the table (or whatever) when you arrive to see if there are lists / individuals' slips that you have not had delivered to you in advance - or to see if there are any late applicants. It's interesting you say that there are not many applicants - I'd have thought the horror of the THT plans would have motivated people to step forward.    Report

06/03/2008, 16:15 Hereford Joined on 27/08/2004 Posts 212 Re: EU citizens: your right to vote in France Hi Catalpa If there are 11 vacancies then presumably there will be lots of slips to pick up on Sunday.  I think the problem of the THT line going through the village (300 m from us..) may be putting  people off from standing.  Our Mayor is standing down and we suspect this is because of a few of us making a fuss after a very poor presentation by RTE.  We would like to know the thoughts on those standing regarding this, but it looks as though we will not know before Sunday. Thanks Mrs H    Report

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