If you want to vote by post, you will need a polling card. You may apply for it to the municipality of your main residence either

• personally or
• in writing. Applications submitted by fax or e-mail are also regarded as having been provided in written form. In many municipalities such documents may be requested online.
• It is not possible to apply by telephone.

On the back of your voter’s notification there is a form to be filled in and returned.

You can also file the application before you have received your voter’s notification. The following information is required:

• family name,
• surname(s),
• date of birth and
• housing address (street, house number, postal code, town).

Anyone submitting an application for another person has to provide a written authorisation. Therefore, an application may only be filed personally or in writing (not electronically!) in such cases.

Persons with disabilities who are eligible to vote may ask another person to help them with the application.

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The municipal authority will send the polling card and the postal ballot documents to the housing address or, on request, to another address (for instance the holiday address).

You may also pick up the documents personally at the municipal authority. In that case you may also vote by postal ballot there and then.

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You should apply for a polling card as early as possible. There is no need to wait for the voter’s notification to be delivered.

A polling card can be applied for until Friday before election day, 6 p.m., at the latest. In exceptional cases it is possible to apply for a polling card to be issued until 3 p.m. on the day of the election, for example if the voter finds it impossible or unreasonably difficult to go to the polling station due to provable sudden illness.

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It is possible to participate in the election by post from abroad. However, sufficient postage has to be paid for ballot letters posted abroad. The postal ballot letter must be posted in good time so that it is received by the competent authority by 6 p.m. on the Sunday on which the election is held. We would recommend that you send your postal ballot letters from non-European countries by airmail. You will need an airmail sticker (Priority/Prioritaire) for this purpose which can be obtained for instance on the internet.

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The polling card and the postal ballot documents can be handed over or posted only once the nominations have finally been approved and the ballot papers have been printed. You will therefore receive the documents about six weeks before election at the earliest.

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In response to your application, the following documents will be given or sent to you:

• A polling card. Your polling card must be signed personally by the local authority official authorized to issue it and bear the official seal. The official seal may be embossed. If the polling card has been generated automatically, there may be no signature on it; the name of the designated official may be printed on it instead.
• An official ballot paper.
• An official ballot paper envelope (blue).
• An official return envelope (red) with the full address to which the ballot letter has to be sent. It will also indicate the issuing authority of the municipality and the polling card number or the polling district.
• A detailed postal ballot instruction sheet containing all the necessary information and clear illustrations about how to vote by post.

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• Mark your vote(s) on the ballot paper yourself without being observed (first and/or second vote) and then put the ballot paper into the blue envelope (ballot paper envelope) and seal it.
• Indicate place and date on the “affirmation in lieu of an oath pertaining to the postal ballot” at the bottom of your polling card and sign it, then put the polling card into the red official return envelope together with the blue ballot paper envelope.
• Seal the red official return envelope and put it in the post unstamped for delivery within Germany (outside Germany with sufficient postage) or hand it in personally to the authority indicated on the envelope.

The official return envelope can be handed in only to the authority indicated on the envelope.

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It is very important that the postal ballot letter be posted in good time or handed in directly to the authority indicated on the return envelope. It must be received by the competent authority not later than 6 p.m. on the Sunday on which the election is held because polling comes to a close at 6 p.m. and the counting of votes begins. Postal ballot letters received later will not be considered in the counting of votes.

If sent by mail, the postal ballot letter should be posted in Germany not later than on the third working day before election to make sure it is received in time. In any case the voter bears the risk of the postal ballot letter not being received in time. You should therefore cast your vote as soon as the postal ballot documents have arrived and immediately afterwards send the postal ballot letter to the address imprinted on the letter or hand it in at that address.

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Postal ballot letters can be posted free of charge within the Federal Republic of Germany.

Sufficient postage has to be affixed to letters posted abroad. In that case the voter has to bear the costs.

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If you do not want to vote in “your” polling district on election day but in another one, you must have applied for a polling card early enough. With a polling card you can go to any polling district of your constituency. Once the electoral board of that polling station has checked your polling card, you will be given a ballot paper and may cast your vote. The polling card will be retained by the electoral board.

It is not possible to vote in a polling district outside one’s “own” constituency.

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The result of the postal ballot is determined by postal ballot boards within the constituency. After the poll (after 6 p.m. on election day) they count the votes of the postal ballot documents which have been received and checked by then.

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The results of the postal ballot are already contained in the provisional result.

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The provisions of the Federal Elections Act and the Federal Electoral Regulations which pertain to the postal ballot guarantee that the secrecy of the vote is preserved at any time. The following chart shows how the postal ballot letters are handled in accordance with the legal provisions:

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