The France Identity application allows you to import your identity card and driving license in digital format.
June 30 and July 7 will see the early legislative elections, following the dissolution of the National Assembly decided by Emmanuel Macron on the evening of the European elections. But if you thought you could use your digital ID to vote, you might be surprised.
A physical vote, not a digital one
Available since spring 2024 thanks to the France Identity application (which also allows you to store your driving license), the national digital identity card allows you to officially prove your identity, for example to the forces of the order, but also in the TGV. And this, simply by taking out your smartphone. But to vote, this national digital identity card cannot be used.
“You must present the original of the document. A photograph or a download on a smartphone or a photocopy are not accepted” indicates the Service-public site.
Contacted by Tech&Co, the Ministry of the Interior confirmed that it is currently impossible to use your digital identity document.
“The list of documents authorized to prove one’s identity within the polling station is set out in Article 1 of the decree of November 16, 2018, amended, taken in application of Articles R. 5, R. 6 and R. 60 of the electoral code. The authorized documents are very numerous, such as the identity card, passport, health card, driving license, combatant’s card or even disability card with photograph in order to facilitate the voter’s vote as much as possible.
The electronic identity document (France Identity) is not included in the list of documents provided for in Article 1 of the aforementioned decree of 16 November 2018 and is therefore not admissible to prove identity on voting day.
“As a result, a voter will not be able to present a dematerialized identity document (France Identity) on their smartphone in polling stations during legislative elections to prove their identity,” the ministry specifies.
For their part, French citizens living abroad can participate in the election by voting online. An experiment that voters living in mainland France do not benefit from, and which has also been accompanied by technical difficulties.
