In the run-up to the May 2006 congressional and municipal elections, the Central Electoral Board (JCE) is posed to provide Dominican identification and voter registration cards to 300,000 people that do not currently have them. These cards, called “cedulas”, are a universal necessity in the Dominican Republic. Chief election magistrate Luis Arias told El Caribe reporters that within the next few days his personnel would be embarking on a campaign to provide the voter registration and I.D. cards to those people that are over 18 and have not yet obtained it. Anyone who has reached the age of 18 by 15 May 2006 is eligible to apply for the cedula. Requests must be received by 15 January 2006, however, since this is the closing date for voter registration rolls. In large part because of the many different officials to be elected, the May 2006 elections are expected to be complicated for the JCE. There will be elections for 962 municipal council members, 32 senators and 178 deputies. One of the several drawbacks for obtaining the cedula is the requirement for possessing a birth certificate. Because of the current debate regarding jus soli or jus sanguinis, Arias argued that since the very first Dominican constitution the principle of jus soli has been the rule.