No matter how many phone calls he made, nothing helped.
Alain Vasselle, mayor of Oursel-Maison, has not found the number of assessors necessary to hold the two polling stations in his town for the two Sundays of the upcoming elections.
"I would need 24 assessors to ensure four rounds of 2h30," he explains.
I'm missing six volunteers.
In my city council, I have four who refuse to sit.
"
It must be said that the assessors have already been mobilized two Sundays for the partial legislative.
So spending four Sundays of a summer spring in the town hall of his village after several weeks of confinement, it has something to cool some.
"To hold the office 5 hours in a row"
“Those who refuse always have a good excuse to advance, a marriage, a communion, regrets the mayor.
It's very complicated.
The elections should still be able to take place.
“We have no choice,” emphasizes Alain Vasselle.
We will be several to hold the office for 5 hours in a row, starting with me.
"
And if abstention is as important as for the legislative, the time may be long.
"During the second round, the assessors present between 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. only registered two voters," said the mayor.
At six on Sunday, if we find ourselves in the same situation, we could perhaps do a belote.
"
Drawing.
LP
From Trumilly to Villers-Saint-Barthélemy via Bucamps, Airion or Courteuil, around thirty municipalities, mainly rural, would be, according to the union of mayors of the Oise (UMO), in the same case, meeting the worst difficulties in the world to find assessors.
A little south of Ourcel-Maison, Gérard Defrance, mayor of Blicourt, is relieved.
“I finally managed to have the 16 assessors needed to organize the first round on Sunday,” he explains.
For June 27, however, I am missing three and I have no solution to find them.
I had managed to find a few volunteers in exchange for a vaccination, but it only worked once.
"
The fear of Covid is still present
He too encountered the refusal of some of his municipal councilors.
"I sent them the email from the prefecture indicating their obligation to sit during these elections," he said.
Four out of eleven did not even answer me.
Some people refuse to be vaccinated or tested and they do not want to take the risk.
"
Which is not normally an excuse.
"You need a valid reason to refuse to sit in an election," explains Sébastien Piatkovsi, director of the UMO.
Not being vaccinated or refusing to get vaccinated or tested is not.
But the situation is difficult to sustain for the mayors, none will dismiss their elected officials for this kind of reason.
"
The Oise also almost ran out ... of ballot boxes
In La Houssoye, Dorothée Francon, mayor of the town, also encountered great difficulties, even if she finally found in extremis the number of assessors required by the prefecture.
“I needed six for the two ballots, it was very, very complicated,” she says.
The dates were very poorly chosen.
They are communion, wedding Sundays and, in addition, there is Father's Day!
"
Note that the assessors were not the only ones to be lacking: the Oise was also for a time in lack of… ballot boxes.
“The election standards are strict, we need transparent ballot boxes with double locks,” says Sébastien Piatkovsi.
With the coronavirus, we found ourselves out of Plexiglas and unable to order new ballot boxes to equip the two polling stations necessary for departmental and regional.
"
But there, the story ended better.
"By mobilizing everyone, we managed to find in extremis the number of ballot boxes necessary for these elections," concludes the official.
* To become an assessor, all you need to do is be registered on the electoral rolls of your municipality and submit your candidacy.
