On March 14th, new state parliaments will be elected in Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg - under Corona conditions.
Because going to the ballot box should not be postponed.
The state elections in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate are just around the corner.
Despite the rampant corona pandemic, they have not been postponed.
That brings with it a lot of changes in the election campaign and in the election itself.
Mainz / Stuttgart - On Sunday of the coming week, the first state parliaments will be elected under Corona conditions in two federal states.
New state parliaments are determined in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate.
There are also local elections in Hesse.
However, the grand election day is overshadowed by the corona pandemic and the associated restrictions.
The question arises: Couldn't the going to the polls be postponed?
Corona elections: That's why they were not postponed
In Thuringia, for example, it was decided on September 26th to allow an early state election to take place together with the federal election.
This had been agreed across parties.
A similar approach is not possible in Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate or Hesse.
Because while the elections in Thuringia were pulled forward, the legislative periods in the other three federal states are already ending.
In Baden-Württemberg, for example, it would not be possible to postpone the deadlines stipulated in the constitution according to the current legal situation.
In Hesse, the state parliament should have decided on a later date at a meeting on December 11th last year at the latest.
In Rhineland-Palatinate, too, all parties and government agencies wanted to stick to the election date.
So the elections will take place, but some of the modalities will change.
Election campaigns & postal votes: That will change in the run-up to the state elections in 2021
This already applies to the pre-election campaign.
Face-to-face events cannot take place, and the classic street election campaign does not appear to be very promising in times of pandemics.
The parties therefore have to resort to digital formats in order to convince the voters of themselves.
However, posters are also stuck on and direct mail is distributed.
However, the corona crisis is unlikely to lead to a lower voter turnout.
At least no signs of this could be found in the local elections in Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia last year.
However, significantly more citizens use the option to vote by post.
So far, however, switching to this method is not an option for the federal states, it is only intended as an alternative option.
In Baden-Württemberg, the CDU in particular - because of the alleged risk of fraud - turned against it and demanded that postal voting should not become the rule.
As always, the documents for postal voting can be requested there after receiving the voting notification.
In 2020, Rhineland-Palatinate changed the state constitution so that postal voting is possible in circles with high numbers of infections.
In extreme cases, a nationwide changeover to postal voting is possible at short notice.
The Rhineland-Palatinate state returning officer rejected this in February.
The prerequisites for this are currently not in place
Mask and distance in the electoral bar: Citizens have to pay attention to this
There are also a few things to consider on election day.
The election as Lord Mayor in Stuttgart could serve as an example: No older election workers were recruited, all others were tested and were equipped with medical masks or FFP2 masks on election day.
The general hygiene and distance rules will apply to voters in the polling stations.
If you want to cast your vote, you have to comply.
Since there can be waiting times, patience is required.
If you want to vote without a mask for health reasons, you must present a valid certificate.
(mam / AFP)
