You don’t know if you are registered on the electoral roll or which office you should go to to vote in the legislative elections at the end of June? Here’s how to find out for sure.
To everyone’s surprise, the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron decided to dissolve the National Assembly and organize early legislative elections at the end of June and beginning of July, generating great agitation within political parties, in the media and, well, heard, among the population. Despite the stakes of this new election, the dates set, namely June 30 for the first round and July 7 for the second, and the very tight deadline, however, risk taking many citizens by surprise, who did not expect not having to vote again anytime soon – especially since the European elections, often perceived as “unimportant”, are distinguished by a very high abstention rate.
However, according to INSEE, 10.6 million French people are unregistered or incorrectly registered on the electoral lists, or 21% of voters. One in three French people registered on the electoral roll was not registered in the municipality where they resided during the 2022 presidential election, or 7.7 million people (16.5%). And the situation hasn’t really improved since. Young people are particularly concerned, since 39% of 18-25 year olds are registered elsewhere than where they live, generally in their parents’ municipality. As for 25-29 year olds, 45% of them are also considered to be incorrectly registered. Also, if it is no longer possible to register on the electoral lists at present – with the exception of young people who turned 18 between June 9 and 29, who are automatically registered –, it is better check whether or not you are correctly registered, to avoid unpleasant surprises on the big day.
2024 legislative elections: are you registered on the electoral lists?
The majority of French people not registered in their main municipality are not far from their polling station, since half live less than 21 kilometers away. Unfortunately, this still constitutes an obstacle to electoral participation. Parisians are, however, an exception since the polling station for those who are poorly registered is located on average 239 kilometers from the capital.
Teleservice “Question your electoral situation” allows you to know on which electoral list you are registered, to know the address of your polling station, to know your national voter number, to know if you have current powers of attorney and to download your registration certificate on the electoral lists. You can access it through FranceConnect or your Service-public.fr account. Please note, if you are registered on a New Caledonia/Kanaky electoral list, you must use another online service. Once logged in, indicate your last name, first name(s), gender, date of birth and the municipality in which you think you are registered. If the teleservice identifies you, this means that you are registered in the municipality indicated.
But then, what to do if you are registered incorrectly? If the service-public.fr site does indeed offer an electoral list change service directly online, the deadlines have unfortunately passed, and you must resolve to vote in your former municipality, if you are registered there. If, like Parisians, it is particularly far from your place of residence, you can always make a power of attorney (see our practical guide).