In the 2020 municipal election in Bavaria, there are a total of four ballots, some of which are huge - we will explain to you how to make your crosses correctly.
- In the Bavarian local elections on March 15, 2020 , you will receive several ballots.
- You can influence the choice skilfully by means of "cumulate" and "variegation" .
- We explain the most important principles with our fictitious ballot paper and offer you a "cheat sheet" to print out.
Munich - In the local elections in Bavaria , the ballot papers are sometimes huge - because municipal bodies usually have many members. These are the city council , the municipal council and the district council .
Local election ballots in Bavaria: What do the different colors mean?
In the 2020 local elections in Bavaria, there will be between two and four ballots in different colors.
- Yellow : ballot paper for the election of the first mayor or mayor
- Light green : Ballot for the election of the municipal councilors / city councilors (depending on their place of residence)
- White : ballot paper for the election of the district councilors
- Light blue : ballot paper for the election of the district administrator
Ballot in the 2020 municipal election in Bavaria: how many votes do I have?
How many votes you have to cast is on the top of your ballot paper. In principle, you have as many votes as there are mandates in the body to be elected. The seats in the district council in Bavaria depend on the size of the district.
The smallest district days have 50 seats, counties from 150,000 inhabitants have 70 seats. The size of the municipal and city councils also fluctuates strongly: only eight seats have the smallest municipal councils (in places with less than 1000 inhabitants), while the largest city councils are in Nuremberg (70 seats) and Munich (80 seats).
You have one vote :
- for the election of the first mayor or mayor
- for the election of the district administrator
Local election Bavaria 2020: Fictitious sample ballot paper
A special feature applies to communities with up to 3,000 inhabitants: Here there can be up to twice as many votes. If there is only one or no election proposal for the municipal council election, the voter has from the outset twice as many votes as municipal council members are to be elected. Sounds confusing, but it's basically simple:
Schexing chooses - The fictional location, known from the BR series, serves as an example for our explanation of the election.
© Munich Mercury
Ballot paper in the 2020 local elections in Bavaria: what is "accumulating" and "variegating"?
You can make it easy for yourself and just make a cross for a complete list - see point "C" on our fictitious ballot paper for the local elections in Bavaria. Then each candidate on this list receives one vote. Exceptions are the candidates you may have crossed out on the list.
You can also distribute your votes. If you particularly want to support a candidate, you can give him up to three votes. This is called accumulation or " heaping ". Among parties, it is unofficial “sport” to choose so-called heaping kings, i.e. candidates who are heaped up front.
You can also distribute their votes across various lists - in the example above, our voter has opted for the "non-party Schexinger", but he also sends Rosemarie Specht and Anni Hummel votes from the competing "independent citizens".
Combination: It is also allowed to fully utilize the right to vote, i.e. to check the list, to pile up and to diversify. In an additional article we explain the most important things about accumulating and variegating.
Local election ballot: Can it expire?
Attention, you must pay attention to the total number of your crosses : for a district day with 70 seats, for example, only 70 votes are to be given. If you cast more votes, your ballot will become invalid. If you don't make fewer crosses - but then you give away votes.
On the other hand, this can also "save" you: If, for example, a candidate mistakenly gave four votes but the total number of crosses fell below, their ballot will remain valid in the 2020 local elections in Bavaria.
Sample ballot papers for the Bavaria 2020 local elections - our infographic
Cheat sheet municipal election Bavaria 2020
© Munich Mercury
For election day, we recommend you download and print out our cheat sheet for the Bavaria 2020 local elections as a PDF file.
All information and dates for the 2020 local elections in Bavaria can be found here. Results of the 2020 local elections in Bavaria will be available on Sunday, March 15, 2020 from merkur.de. In advance you will find detailed reports on candidates, lists and all current developments.
* Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network.
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List of rubric lists: © picture alliance / dpa / Karl-Josef Hildenbrand