If you registered to vote in a place other than your traditional residence, the CNE may cancel the registration of your ID

The Council of State approved the procedure by which the National Electoral Council (CNE) may cancel the registration of ballots that were registered to vote in a place other than their traditional residence.

This seeks to address the crime of transhumance, that is, the transfer to a polling place where the elector does not really have any roots, for the next presidential elections in Colombia.

This decision was taken after considering a complaint against the procedure in which the citizen stated that “the rules imposed by the legislator to notify acts of particular and specific content that terminate an administrative action, such as those that take place when the registration of a certificate for irregularities in the proceedings, for example, because the holder of the document is alien to the place where he registers it.”

For the plaintiff, the illegality lay in the omission of personal notification of the act that establishes the ineffectiveness of the registration of the ID card.

Likewise, the complainant assured that the CNE exercised a power that did not correspond to it, since, as it alleged, for it the power that could void the registration of ballots “does not enable it to regulate them through a brief and summary procedure”.

After studying the complaint, the Council of State denied the citizen's claims and held that the competence of the CNE in this matter comes from the Constitution and the law, which gives this body the duty to regulate the electoral residence of citizens and to combat the vice of transhumance, through a procedure that must to be fulfilled.

For the judicial corporation, the form of notification of the act that revokes the registration of ballots complies with constitutional and legal conditions, while the registration of the act complies with the principle of publicity and effectiveness of the electoral roll.

Likewise, the Council of State recalled that the information is published on the websites of the CNE and the Registry Office and sent to the account of whoever provided their e-mail address as part of registration. “Hence, the plaintiff's allegations against personal notification do not vitiate the legality of the CNE's actions,” says the corporation's ruling.

This is how you can change your voting position for the 2022 presidential elections

1. Go to the website of the National Registry Office www.registraduria.gov.co, and check which voting station your ID is registered in.

2. If, when entering your number on the Registrar's website, you see a voting station other than the place of your residence or a message stating that your ID card is not active, you must go to the entity's premises to change your voting point in the first case and, in the second case, to register your document for to be able to vote in the presidential elections.

3. To change your voting station or register your ballot, you must go to the nearest Registrar's office and, with your identity document, complete the procedure between 8:00 in the morning and 4:00 in the afternoon.

4. Once the Registrar's official verifies your information and performs the biometric authentication process (facial and/or fingerprint) to validate your identity, they will proceed to change your voting station or register your ID for the presidential elections, depending on the procedure you need.

5. When the process is complete, you can ask the official for proof of registration (Form E-4), which records the date of registration of the ballot card, your identification number, the place where you made the procedure, and your voting station.

Remember that you will only have a deadline to complete these processes until next Tuesday, March 29.

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