Ahead of the presidential elections, voters will soon receive a new electoral map. Unlike older versions, this one will contain a QR Code. Contrary to what some politicians claim, it will not be used at all to track you. We discuss its usefulness.
If QR Codes are increasingly exploited to carry out scams, like these malicious QR Codes used to empty your bank account or to defraud motorists, they are also becoming more popular on our official documents. After integrating QR Codes into TousAntiCovid, the French government intends to add them to the new version of the electoral map.
Indeed and as we approach the first round of the presidential elections, millions of French voters will receive their new electoral card. This QR Code will be affixed directly to the first cover page. Unsurprisingly, several politicians like Florian Philippot, the boss of the Patriotes party, are worried about the presence of this QR Code. According to him, the government is preparing the ground “for a future Citizen Pass”.
Also read: How to scan a QR Code on Android or iPhone
This QR Code is only a simple link to an institutional site
Rest assured, this is all false. This QR Code will not contain any information about you. It is actually a simple link, which once scanned, will redirect you to the institutional election site, namely elections.gouv.fr. From this portal, you can:
- check your electoral situation
- find your polling station
- register online, until March 2, 2022, on the electoral lists
- request a proxy in the event of absence on polling day. You will also be able to check who you have given power of attorney to or who gave you power of attorney
You will also find a lot of information about the role and the “democratic purpose” of the vote, the different types of elections organized in France or even on the competence of elected officials. Note also that this new version of the electoral map will display new information: your national voter number.
This encrypted data is imperative to establish a power of attorneyand it will be a number “permanent, unique and specific to each voter, made up of 8 to 9 digits in the majority of cases”. It is used to identify with certainty a voter among the 48 million registered on the electoral lists in France and the DOM-TOM.
