As of: February 15, 2024, 4:13 p.m
By: Babett Gumbrecht
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The voting machine for the European elections should help with the decision on June 9th.
But when can you use the online tool and what is behind the concept?
Berlin/Brussels – On June 9th, all voters in Germany are called upon to cast their vote at the ballot box.
The composition of the European Parliament will be redefined in the 2024 European elections.
If you are undecided about which party to vote for, a tried and tested online tool can help: the Wahlomat.
This is expected to be accessible from the beginning of May 2024.
How does the voting machine work for the 2024 European elections?
The voting machine for the 2024 European elections offers the user the usual selection options known from previous elections.
The application presents 38 clearly formulated theses one after the other, each of which has three possible answers: “agree”, “disagree” and “neutral” are available to choose from.
It is also possible to skip a thesis.
The Federal Agency for Civic Education recommends answering “neutral” if you would only agree to a statement under certain conditions.
After all questions have been answered, the user is given the opportunity to include their personal wishes in the evaluation.
He can choose whether individual theses are particularly important to him.
The corresponding answers are given double weight in the evaluation.
The Wahlomat questions are developed by a mixed editorial team.
© Sven Hoppe/dpa
The next step is to select the parties for which the voting machine should display the results.
The party selection can be changed as often as you like without having to answer the 38 theses again.
What does the result of the ballot box mean?
After answering the theses and selecting the parties, the electoral machine calculates the result.
All parties are displayed, sorted according to their proximity to your own position.
A bar chart shows the extent of agreement.
Further details can be viewed using icons.
Like the justifications the result of the parties.
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Who selected the questions for the European election voting machine?
By agreeing or rejecting the individual theses, it is calculated how much the voter agrees with the positions of the various parties.
The exciting thing about the concept behind the Wahlomat is its creation.
The tool's theses are developed by an editorial team made up of young voters, experts from science, journalism and education as well as those responsible at bpb.
Young committed people were sought for the editorial workshop in March until mid-January.
The theses to help make electoral decisions will then be found in Bonn.
Some members of the EU Parliament in Strasbourg.
The parliament will be re-elected in June.
© Katerina Sulova/IMAGO
After the election programs have been evaluated and the theses have been determined, all parties are asked about their position on the theses.
The parties do not have a say in the selection of topics.
In addition to agreeing, disagreeing or remaining neutral on a topic, the parties can also provide brief explanations.
The user can read these explanations when he looks at the evaluation of his answers.
General facts about the voting machine
The Wahlomat celebrated its premiere in 2002.
It is an application that can be accessed online and is intended to provide the user with assistance in making their choice.
The voting machine is being developed under the direction of the Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb) for federal, state and European elections.
To do this, the most important theses are selected from the election programs of the competing parties so that the user can compare their views with the parties' demands.
How many times has a voting machine been called?
The voting machine has now established itself as a constant source of information in the run-up to elections: In total, it was used over 115 million times in the run-up to elections.
According to the
bpb
, the online offer was accessed around 9.8 million times for the last European elections in 2019.
In addition, voters can replay the voting machine from previous years in the archive at any time.
More information about the 2024 European elections
You can find out how the mood for the parties is developing in the current surveys for the 2024 European elections.
In Germany, around 66 million people are eligible to vote on June 9th.
The polling stations are open between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.