After the postal ballot record in the local elections last year, the general election is just around the corner.
Municipalities are again expecting an above-average share of postal votes, which will be evident long before the deadline of September 26th.
District - It is well known that postal voting slips can be requested and submitted immediately after the voting notification has been received.
The notification must reach the voters by September 6th - however, many municipalities send the documents out earlier.
The town halls see themselves prepared for the organization - also with help from outside.
Hausham
There are around 6,000 eligible voters in the Hausham community.
Sending the same number of letters to voters would be a huge administrative burden.
Managing Director Rudi Randler explains: "We are therefore working with the company 'komuna' - the work is more or less outsourced." The company will send out the voting notifications this week, says Randler.
After that it is possible to request postal voting documents.
"We expect a similarly high proportion of postal voters as in the local elections." Before the Corona period, fewer than 2000 people preferred postal votes to polling stations.
“Last year there were more than 2,500,” recalls the manager.
This year the community expects up to 2,700 postal voters.
“Like last year, we have four postal voting districts.” Hausham does not use electronic systems for the counting.
Waakirchen
The ballot papers arrived at the town hall of Waakirchen on Tuesday - “for a total of 4461 eligible voters”, as Sabrina Schmid explains.
The deputy polling officer says: “We have three postal voting districts.” Similar to Hausham, the sending of the documents is the responsibility of an external service provider: The Agency for Communal Data Processing in Bavaria (AKDB) takes care of the sending of the documents for Waakirchen.
Despite the criticism in 2020 and the pending lawsuit by local election candidate Lars Hülsmann (we reported): "When counting, we will again be on 'OK Vote'," says Schmid.
The electronic system for counting votes is the most common and is also used in many other municipalities.
Administrative employee Michael Link explains that the electoral roll has already been created and sent.
"I expect 50 to 60 percent postal voters," says Link.
Because of the external service provider, the employee cannot estimate when the notifications will be received by the citizens.
“Before September 6, of course,” he reveals.
On election day itself, postal ballot papers could still be fetched from the mailboxes on Sunday.
“There is a special emptying of the post office.” Those who put in their voting slip themselves have time until the polling stations close - “until 6 p.m.”.
Wooden churches
The municipality of Holzkirchen is gearing up for a large increase in voters who decide to vote by letter: The municipality is setting up seven postal voting stations this year - in 2017 there were only four.
"We have expanded significantly with this," said press spokeswoman Sissina Weber when asked.
The community currently has 6500 postal voting documents in stock, which covers the needs of 55 percent of all eligible voters.
Additional documents can be ordered if required.
Holzkirchen has commissioned an external service provider to send the voting notifications: the publisher that prints the notifications will post them on August 24th.
The postal voting office opens the next day and postal voting can be requested.
Once citizens have received their postal voting papers, they can cast their votes.
The counting is done manually in Holzkirchen.
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