Civic Budget Małopolska: Help us distribute PLN 14 million for good ideas! Voting has started in the 6th edition of the Civic Budget of the Małopolska Region. From mid-May to mid-June, every resident of Małopolska can decide which projects will be carried out in the coming years. There are nearly 200 proposals to choose from! The Board of the Małopolska Region will allocate PLN 14 million to implement the best ones.
Sports activities, interesting cultural events, pro-social and health projects — this year there is an abundance of interesting proposals that residents can vote for. 198 projects made it to the voting stage — 158 of a regional character and 40 region-wide.
— We all want Małopolska to become an increasingly interesting and better place. By voting in the Civic Budget, everyone can have their part in this process — because every completed project is an opportunity for residents to develop or solve a pressing problem. So far, through five editions, over 300 brilliant ideas of Małopolska residents have been implemented for a total sum of nearly PLN 46 million. And more are ahead — we have planned a record sum of PLN 14 million for the winning projects in this year’s vote! — reminds Iwona Gibas, who is responsible for the civic budget within the Board of the Małopolska Region.
Voting begins on 15 May and will last until 16 June (paper votes cast in person and by correspondence). Slightly longer, until 18 June, you will be able to vote online. The type of voting and the assigned dates are crucial — all votes cast before or after the specified dates will be invalid. So if you want to fill in a paper ballot on Saturday 17 June, you will no longer be able to cast a valid vote in this way (in-person ballot boxes and postal voting will only be possible until 16 June, until 16:00). The only option then will be to vote online.
Due to recent changes in the Civic Budget regulations, in this edition residents of Małopolska will be able to cast up to 2 votes. One vote for a region-wide project and a second vote for a regional project. Only a resident of a given region can vote for a regional project — meaning, for example, for projects from the Southern Małopolska Region, only residents of Nowy Sącz city and the counties of Nowy Targ, Tatra, Limanowa, Nowy Sącz and Gorlice can vote. The full list of regions can be found in the Civic Budget Regulations (https://bip.malopolska.pl/api/files/2885957). If a resident votes for a project from a region in which they do not live, the vote is considered invalid.
A resident has a maximum of 2 votes — but does not have to use them both. If they cast only 1 vote — for a regional or region-wide project, it will be counted. It is not permissible for one person to cast 2 votes for one type of project or more than 2 votes in total. For example, if a resident casts 2 or more votes for region-wide projects, all those votes will be invalidated. The vote cast for a regional project — provided it was cast correctly — remains valid. The situation is analogous if 2 or more votes are cast for regional projects — all those votes will be invalid. The vote cast for a region-wide project — provided it was cast correctly — will be counted.
As in previous editions, this can be done in 3 different ways: online, in person or by post. Paper votes should be placed in ballot boxes located throughout Małopolska (https://bo.malopolska.pl/wydarzenia/glosowanie) or sent by post to the Marshal’s Office with the note “Civic Budget” to one of the following addresses:
Note: what counts is the date of receipt at the Marshal’s Office of the Małopolska Region or one of the Branch Offices — not the postmark date on the envelope.
Importantly, in postal voting, one mailing may contain more than one completed ballot card, provided that each card sent has been personally signed by the voter (the person whose personal data appears on the card) and has been secured against processing of personal data by unauthorised persons.
The fastest and most convenient way to vote will be online — on a specially prepared tab on the website bo.malopolska.pl.
— Every year we encourage people to vote on the website — the prepared form will check for us whether we have made any mistakes or forgotten to fill in a required field, confirm declarations, and also whether we are definitely voting for projects from our region of residence. This is important, because every year a significant proportion of paper votes are invalid precisely because of such oversights, and we can only detect this when counting the votes, when it is already too late — emphasises Iwona Gibas from the Board of the Małopolska Region.
It is worth adding that this year hybrid voting is permitted, i.e. using two different methods of voting. For example — if a resident votes for a regional project on a paper ballot placed in a ballot box, but does not indicate a region-wide project at that time, they can do so later online (casting only the 1 missing vote).
The results of the 6th edition of the Civic Budget of the Małopolska Region are scheduled for autumn — we will learn the results by the end of September 2023. Projects that win the vote may be implemented from the beginning of 2024.
As a reminder, the call for proposals for the 6th edition of the Civic Budget took place in September 2022. At that time, Małopolska residents submitted 234 proposals — 230 of them passed the initial verification positively and were forwarded for departmental evaluation. Ultimately, 198 of them are now competing for votes.
— Now everything is in the hands of Małopolska residents — they will decide which projects are the best. Anyone who lives in our voivodeship and is at least 16 years old can vote. We do not require formal registration. I encourage all residents of our voivodeship to take the development of Małopolska into their own hands! — says Marshal Witold Kozłowski.
If you have any questions, the staff of the Marshal’s Office of the Małopolska Region responsible for implementing the Civic Budget are at your disposal — by phone: (12) 61 60 536, (12) 61 60 982, or by email: bo@umwm.malopolska.pl. Graphic elements of the voting promotion campaign, as well as detailed information about the project, can be found on our website: bo.malopolska.pl. It is also worth liking the BO Małopolska profile on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/bo.malopolska) — where the latest information related to the Civic Budget of the Małopolska Region is regularly posted.
