The electoral roll has been permanently closed since last year
Voting locations are fixed for the June 7 runoff; the ONPE closed the electoral roll permanently, requiring all voters to use their April 12 first-round assignments. Even recent DNI address updates won't change voting locations for this election; only future electoral processes will reflect such changes in voter assignments.
- June 7, 2026 runoff election in Peru
- Electoral roll permanently closed; voters must use April 12 first-round assignments
- Approximately 33,000 voters were reassigned before the first round due to 200 unavailable polling locations
- Address updates on national ID cards do not change voting locations for this election
- Fines for not voting vary by district income classification and accumulate across election rounds
Peru's ONPE confirms voters cannot change polling locations for the June 7 runoff election; the electoral roll closed permanently and all citizens must vote at their originally assigned centers.
With Peru's runoff election just days away on June 7, thousands of voters are scrambling to find out whether they can cast their ballots somewhere other than where they voted in April. The answer, according to Peru's National Electoral Office (ONPE), is no. The electoral roll has been permanently closed since last year, and every citizen must show up at the exact same polling location and voting table they were assigned for the first round on April 12.
This finality has created real logistical headaches for people whose circumstances have shifted. If you've moved for work, fallen ill, or planned travel that will take you far from your assigned center, the ONPE will not grant exceptions or process new requests through its "Choose Your Voting Location" platform. You'll need to arrange your own transportation back to your original site, or simply not vote—though that carries its own consequences.
One of the most common questions flooding Peru's civil registry office involves a different kind of change: updating your address on your national ID card. Many voters believe a new address might automatically shift their polling place. It won't. Any updates to personal data or address changes made during 2026 will only take effect in future elections. For this June 7 presidential runoff, the closed electoral roll from months ago remains in force, untouched by whatever paperwork you've filed since.
There is one narrow exception. The ONPE can reassign voters, but only in cases of genuine force majeure—when a polling site becomes unusable or unavailable. Before the April first round, the office had to relocate roughly 33,000 citizens because about 200 polling locations had been lost or were no longer accessible, with the heaviest impact in Lima, Arequipa, and La Libertad. If such an emergency happens again before Sunday, the ONPE will notify affected voters by email at the address they registered in the system. The National Electoral Jury recommends that all voters double-check their assigned location on the ONPE's official platform in the days before voting, just to be certain.
Finding your polling place is straightforward. Visit consultaelectoral.onpe.gob.pe, enter your national ID number, and click search. The system will display your assigned center and table number. Taking a screenshot and saving it to your phone is a smart precaution against confusion or delays on election day.
For those selected to serve as polling place officials—both primary and alternate members—the assignment remains unchanged. They will perform the same role on June 7 as they did in April, and they will receive the same economic compensation once they sign the voting record and the payment schedule opens after the election.
Voters who fail to cast a ballot face fines that vary by district classification according to income levels tracked by Peru's statistics institute. These penalties stack on top of any fines already accumulated from missing the first round. With the voting locations now locked in place and the electoral machinery set, Peruvians have one week to plan their journey to the polls.
Citas Notables
The ONPE will not grant exceptions or process new requests through its voting location platform for the runoff— ONPE official policy
Any updates to personal data or address changes made during 2026 will only take effect in future elections— ONPE guidance on DNI updates
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does Peru keep the electoral roll closed so rigidly? Doesn't that create real hardship for people whose lives have changed?
It does, and that's the tension at the heart of this. A closed roll is meant to prevent fraud and ensure the integrity of the process. But yes, someone who got sick, lost a job, or had a family emergency between April and June has no recourse. The system treats electoral logistics as more important than individual circumstance.
So if I updated my address at the civil registry, the ONPE doesn't know about it?
Exactly. The ONPE's records are frozen. Your new address exists in one government database but not in the electoral one. They're separate systems that don't talk to each other during an active election cycle.
What about those 33,000 people who had to be moved before the first round? How did the ONPE even know which locations would fail?
Some were obvious—infrastructure damage, buildings no longer available. But the scale of it, 200 locations across the country, suggests there were real logistical problems that only became clear as the election approached. It's a reminder that even with months of planning, things break down.
If someone can't make it to their polling place, what actually happens?
They don't vote. And then they owe a fine. The fine amount depends on whether you're classified as non-poor, poor, or extremely poor by the government's statistics institute. It's not a small thing—it accumulates if you've already missed voting before.
So the system essentially forces people to show up, no matter what?
It tries to. The ONPE's position is that voting is a civic duty, and the closed roll is the mechanism that makes the election verifiable. But you're right—it's a hard line. There's no flexibility built in except for genuine emergencies that affect the polling place itself, not the voter.