Press release no. 22/19 of 8. Mai 2019
2019 European Election: active contribution by roughly 609,000 voluntary poll workers
WIESBADEN – In the 9th Direct Election to the European Parliament to take place in Germany on 26 May 2019, roughly 609,000 poll workers will contribute on an honorary basis to the proper conduct of the election. They are the basis of the election being organised by the people and thus the most important pillar of the electoral procedure. The Federal Returning Officer asks all citizens to be available in their municipalities for this particular and voluntary activity and also expresses his sincere thanks to all those who are going to work as volunteers in the electoral boards on 26 May 2019, thus doing a great service to our democracy and, consequently, to all of us.
At the forthcoming European election there will be approximately 72,000 polling districts for ballot box voting and approximately 15,000 districts for postal voting. The boundaries of the polling districts have been drawn by the municipalities so as to make it as easy as possible for voters to get to the polling stations. At each polling station and for each postal voting district there will be an electoral board consisting of an electoral officer, his or her deputy and three to seven board members. Some large cities require more than 10,000 poll workers to conduct the European election.
The electoral board organises and supervises the proper conduct of the election and, where necessary, explains the election regulations to the citizens. After the polling station has been closed, the board counts the votes and reports the result to the district or town returning officer. They determine the provisional election result for the district or the town from the first releases and report their result to the Land returning officer. The Land returning officer and staff, in turn, instantly report the incoming district and town results to the Federal Returning Officer, who establishes the provisional result for all of Germany from these figures.
For further information:
Office of the Federal Returning Officer
tel: +49 611 75-4863
www.bundeswahlleiter.de/contact