Press release no. 17/2014 of 5. Mai 2014

Information for postal voters – file your application now

WIESBADEN – Voters may participate in this year’s European election either by casting their votes personally at the polling station or by postal ballot. The Federal Returning Officer also points out that an application for postal voting should be filed as soon as possible to make sure that the documents are received in time.

Those wishing to cast their votes by postal ballot in the 2014 European Election have to apply to their local municipality in writing or orally for a polling card to be issued. The application may also be sent by fax, e-mail or other means of communication, but not made over the phone. Those submitting an application for another person have to present a written authorisation. There is an application form on the back of the voter’s notification which has already been received by all persons listed in a voters’ register.

Applications for a polling card and the postal voting documents to be issued may be filed until Friday before the election, that is 23 May 2014, 6 p.m., and in specific exceptional cases (e. g. sudden illness) until election day, 25 May 2014, 3 p.m. Those who personally deliver their application at the electoral office will be given the postal voting documents immediately and may cast their votes there and then.

The completed postal voting documents in the red official return envelope have to be received at the municipal authority indicated on the envelope by election day, 25 May 2014, 6 p.m. at the latest. Postal ballot letters which arrive later cannot be considered when the votes are counted. To make sure the postal ballot letter is received in time, it should be posted in Germany on the third working day before the election at the latest, that is on Thursday, 22 May 2014. Postal voters may also deliver the postal ballot letter personally to the address indicated on the official return envelope or have it delivered by another person. In such cases, too, those entitled to vote bear the risk of the postal ballot letter not arriving in time.

The right to vote must be exercised personally and secretly also when the vote is cast by postal ballot. Voters who are illiterate or prevented by a physical handicap from marking the ballot paper, folding it and placing it in the ballot paper envelope may ask another person for help, provided that certain requirements are met which are stated on the polling card and in the leaflet informing about the postal ballot.

For further details on the postal ballot please refer to the information leaflet which comes with the postal ballot documents and to the information provided under “Postal ballot” in the Election Glossary on the website of the Federal Returning Officer.

For further information:
Office of the Federal Returning Officer
tel: +49 611 75-4863
www.bundeswahlleiter.de/contact