What is allowed at the polling station, does one vote invalid? With every election, disintegration and false claims about the German election 2025Are, revolving online.
On the election day of 23 February, false claims about the voting process were particularly prevalent, including the allegations of vote rigging ballot ballpas, which did not fit with a lock for wrong advice The papers were required.
DW’s fact check team saw some viral claims.
Do signs make the ballots invalid?
claim: In A post viewed 150,000 times on xVoters (AFD) were asked to sign their ballots for Germany’s far-flung populous options for Germany: “Sign your ballot against manipulation in the election. Which is distributed by a satirical account. Other users shared the graphic. The image AFD is similar to the election campaign advertisements. Other similar images are broadcast as IE other network search reddit,
Investigation of facts: Untrue.
The ballot papers signed in Germany are invalid. Any form of the handwritten joint, such as a signature or a comment, invalid the ballot paper, even if Editonal intends to really confirm the vote. Federal Returning Officer’s websiteWhich conducts the Bundestag elections in Germany, it clarifies: “If a reference of the voter (for example by sting in his name) is written on the ballot, it will be invalid, it will be illegally it. Will endanger the privacy of the ballot. ” Regulated in Section 39 of the Federal Election Act: “The votes are invalid if the ballot paper has addition or reservation.” Any call to sign the polling letters is therefore requested to invalidate the vote.
What is about the post on X is that it asks people to vote on 24 February – which is a day after the real federal election on February 23.
Can you use pencil to vote in Germany?
claim: Some social media users claim that you are not allowed to use a pencil to cast your vote in Germany as the vote can be manipulated, ie, erased. This user says“Don’t forget your ballpoint pen. Or shared a claim“Just voted. Pencil in the polling booth? I brought my own ballpoint pen.” Or users here too It seems that there are pencils for the purpose of polling booths“They think of everything. … There is a pen in the polling booth and no pencil …”
There are seas to be confused in general, so is it allowed to use erassable pencils, as it may have lakes in its comment section Tiktok video,
Investigation of facts: Untrue.
Federal Election Code in Section 50Does not specify the type of pen or pencil that should be used to fill in ballot paper. This only states that a pen should be available in the polling booth.
Federal refund officer It specifies: Ballpoint pens, felt-tip pen, ink pen and pencils are all counted as writing as writing-the victim should not have a document-proof ether. If you still like to bring your own pen, then you should do surgery that there is no ink through paper while turning the polling paper, because ether white it may not be possible to clean the lake. Where the cross was placed, and then there may be ballot.
Individual election committees are composed of members of many parties, and the country of votes is public, so third parties are denied manipulation.
However, the one who violates the federal election code in the thesis post is photos of the marked ballot related ballot papers.
“No photographers or movies can be taken in the polling booth,” Section 56 The Federal Election Code, which controls the voting process. This is not to show those who have voted on your ballot.
Both violate the privacy of the ballot.
In Germany, one vote is secretly casting is not only correct, but real mandatory.
Electoral boards, that is, the person who monitors the correct conduct of the election at a polling station, is even obliged to reject voters who do not hide their votes during the election process.
This includes – in the case of postal voting – showing photographers or full ballot papers. If, for example, a ballot paper is discovered in a way at the polling station, which is visible, it cannot be inserted into the ballot. However, if such a ballot paper ends in the ballot box, it can no longer be invalidated.
Does the ballot boxes have to be closed in Germany?
claim: Users on social media are claiming that electoral outcomes are being manipulated in Germany because some ballot papers do not have locks on them. This user has written on X“If you want to know why the same people are always in Germany. Matpetti 84, district 10, polling station 324 in the constituency. According to the Election Board, it does not consider it necessary to seal the Federal Returning Officer ballot.” Claims were made by other users, Like here“This will allow them to be opened and all ballots can be replaced by others, as the number of voters has been recorded.”
Investigation of facts: Untrue.
As German Federal Election Code Section 51“Must be a ballot box Provided with a lid… it must be Finely“However, it does not specify that it needs to be locked. A website on disintegration about German parliamentary elections,
Similar allegations were broadcast in the last German federal federal election held in 2021.
Subsequently, spokesperson of a federal returning officer AFP told news agency: “How it is closed is not specific. It should not be a lock or sealed on it.”
The Federal Returning Officer confirmed the Win 2021 that the ballot box should be closed; How it is not legally stuck.
However, ballot papers cannot be exchanged, as Section 58 The federal electoral rules have determined that the inauguration of the polling station at the polling station can lead to “determination and installation of election results”, ie by the end of the count.
Therefore every German citizen has the right to act as an election supervisor to ensure that there is no manipulation.
Anna Bakovich, George Bronchhwig, Carla Sophie Cretz, Andreas WikiChen and Claudia Dehan contradicts to investigate the fact.
Edited by: UTA Steinveer
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