The 20th German Bundestag will be elected on September 26, 2021. But many voters will not put their cross in the booth on election Sunday, but will vote beforehand by postal vote. Voting by post is more popular than ever: it allows more flexibility in terms of time, saves standing in line at the polling station and – especially important for many in Corona times – contact with other people. But when can you vote by postal vote in the Munich district? And what do you have to consider?
In order to be able to vote by postal vote, you need a ballot paper. This must be requested from the municipality of the main place of residence and will then be sent together with the postal voting documents. One way of getting the ballot paper is the election notification letter, which all eligible voters are sent before each election. In most parishes, it is expected to be sent out this week or next. On the back there is a postal voting application that can be filled out. Alternatively, the application can be submitted online in many municipalities in the district or via a QR code on the election notification. The electoral roll number and the polling station number must then be given for identification.
If you do not want to wait for your voting notification, you can apply for postal voting documents to the municipality in advance, informally, but in writing. In Unterhaching 50 applications had already been received by Tuesday. According to Simon Hötzl from the community, this is not unusual. “We are seeing a strong trend towards postal voting in the last elections and this will be intensified by the pandemic,” he says. The community of Unterhaching has already reacted to this development organisationally and assigned more staff to count the postal votes. Nevertheless, emphasizes Hötzl, additional hygiene measures will also be taken in the voting stations.
If the postal voting documents are available, one thing must be observed in particular: The completed voting slip must be placed in the envelope provided for this purpose and this must be sealed. Only then does it appear in the voting letter together with the signed ballot paper. “It’s the be-all and end-all that you pack it separately,” explains Gabriele Bergner from the Putzbrunn community electoral office. Otherwise, voting secrecy could not be maintained and voting would be invalid.
Postal voting documents can be requested in the municipalities until September 24th at 6 p.m. However, they are usually only sent as long as it can be ensured that they will arrive on time by post. Anyone who decides to vote by post on the last two working days before the election weekend must collect the documents or have them collected by an authorized representative. The completed election letters must be received by the municipal administration no later than September 26th at 6 p.m.