The postal vote has achieved in these elections record participation figures and has increased by 350% largely due to the pandemic. The vast majority of voters who requested it have been able to vote by mail. This is not the case, however, of Sílvia Barceló, a Barcelona resident who was not allowed to do so this Sunday. Barceló requested the vote by mail last February 2nd but the documentation never arrived to its destination. "I didn't receive any notification or anything", she explains in conversation with ARA.

A total of 270,392 people have requested the postal vote for 14-F. It is a "record" figure throughout the State, according to a statement from Correos, and that triples the requests admitted to the Catalan elections of 2017. Of all the requests submitted, 188,566 have been made in person and 81,826 telematically, through the Correos website and with the electronic signature. To all the admitted requests it is still necessary to add those that have been received until this Friday at noon, which was the last day applications could be made.

The doorbell rings at Carme's house. It's the postwoman, Neus. It's not just any letter. Otherwise, following the covid protocol, she wouldn't have rung the doorbell and would have just left the envelope in the letterbox. But today she had to safeguard the delivery until the last moment and deliver it in hand. It was the ballot paper for the 14-F elections that Carme had ordered by post. When Neus opened the mechanical door of the lift, Carme was already waiting for her on the landing, impatient. It was clear to her which ballot she was going to choose. Under normal conditions, Neus would have simply given her the ballot paper and Carme, once she had chosen the party, would have taken it to the post office. But the pandemic, which is a specialist in creating unprecedented situations, allows for the first time the vote to be casted infront of the post office worker.