Federal election 2021: Why does the ballot often not fit in the envelope?

If you do not want to cast your vote in the polling stations in the federal election, you can do so by postal vote: But why does the ballot often not fit in the envelope?

Munich - The general election is just around the corner and many voters are now spoiled for choice: Which party should you vote for?

Especially for postal voters in this country, the decision is now pending so that the ballot paper arrives in time on election day and the vote can be counted.

By the way: All constituency cuts, direct candidates and election results for the federal election in the 46 Bavarian constituencies are available here.

And while filling out their postal ballot papers, one or the other has certainly asked themselves why the ballot does not really fit into the voting envelope.

Here is the answer:

Postal voting for the Bundestag election: size of ballot papers and envelopes regulated by law

In fact, the length of the ballot paper is different in each of the 299 constituencies in Germany.

The size depends on the number of nominations: "Depending on the length, the ballot papers may be folded several times or have to be creased several times in order to fit into the ballot envelope" reveals the Federal Returning Officer on request from

The size of the ballot slip and also the ballot envelope is regulated in the federal election regulations, which in turn are based on the requirements of the Ministry of the Interior: For example, §45 paragraph 1 stipulates "that the ballot slip must be at least 21 x 29.7 cm (DIN A4)." According to the Federal Returning Officer, the following standardizations apply to the dimensions of the ballot envelopes: The blue ballot envelopes should be 11.4 x 16.2 centimeters (DIN C6), the red ballot envelopes about 12 x 17.6 centimeters.

Federal election 2021: increase in postal voters expected

The longest ballot in Germany was issued for the 2017 federal election in the constituency of Berlin-Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg / Prenzlauer Berg Ost - this led to 27 proposals from the state and 7 non-party direct candidates.

Especially due to the corona pandemic, experts are assuming a particularly high number of postal voters this year.

The number has already risen more and more in previous years: In the last federal election in 2017, 28.6 percent of voters cast their votes by post.

At

you can always find out up-to-date in advance what the polls say for the federal election in 2021.

You will also find an interactive map here with all the results for constituencies and municipalities.