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There are big questions about the European elections. For example: Which candidate should I vote for? And then there are the small ones: Why is the postal ballot envelope actually too small?
Berlin – Voting by mail is now possible at the European elections popular: In some places Already 70 percent more applications for postal voting were received than in the same period for the European elections five years agoJust like in the federal election, the size of the ballot envelopes does not seem to match. They do not fit together without getting bent. Or do they?
Voters criticise “poor design” of postal ballot envelopes
A postal voting envelope that was too small became a topic on the Reddit platform. A user posted a picture online that illustrated his debacle. “Postal voting for Europe: bad design,” was the headline of another Reddit user in a previous post about this exact problem and asked: “So I really have to fold the envelope with the white ballot paper so that I can put it in the red envelope?” In the comments there are attempts to explain the “design error” – and possible solutions.
“Weird folding” as a solution? There is a better suggestion on Reddit
The ballot paper must be placed in the white ballot envelope and this in turn must be placed in the red ballot envelope; the instructions on the envelopes are clear. One commentator on Reddit was not surprised that “strange folding” is required for every election. “I also wondered yesterday who was planning something like that,” wrote another. Others are relaxed about the issue. “It even says on the information sheet that you have to fold.” Perhaps this is simply “a security feature” to ensure that “a real person has actually dealt with it,” is one guess.
An apparently diligent voter then comes up with a constructive solution. “It was the same with my last election,” it says. “But I was able to put the white envelope on its short side, tap it – so that the ballot paper fell down a little – and then fold the excess envelope at the top edge. That way the envelope fit exactly into the red envelope.” What sounds like the perfect solution is apparently not feasible in all cases. “My white envelope was completely filled with the ballot paper,” says the user who originally posted the problem. His conclusion: “Really bizarre.”
Norms and bureaucracy: Why ballot papers often do not fit into ballot envelopes
The problem of envelopes that don’t quite fit is also familiar to some postal voters from the federal election. In Germany, this can be explained by bureaucracy and constituencies. The size of the ballot paper and the ballot envelope is regulated in the Federal Election Regulations, which in turn are based on specifications from the Federal Ministry of the Interior. According to the standard, the blue ballot envelopes should be 11.4 x 16.2 centimeters (DIN C6). The red ballot envelopes should be around 12 x 17.6 centimeters. So blue in red fits well, but the other way around is difficult in terms of dimensions.
In addition, the length of the ballot papers varies in the 299 constituencies of the Federal Republic – depending on the number of nominations, for example. “Depending on the length, the ballot papers may be folded several times or have to be bent several times in order to fit into the ballot envelope,” the Federal Returning Officer revealed in response to a request from RTL in 2021. However, the constituencies are not relevant for the European elections. A request about the sizes of the ballot envelopes for the European elections from FR.de from IPPEN.MEDIA to the Federal Returning Officer initially remained unanswered.
But what counts is the vote. And in the end, one more or less fold is not important, as long as the voting documents were sent in the correct envelopes on time. By the way, postal voting can be done via the election notification, by post, via e-mail or on the Internet The ballot should be sent no later than three days before the election.
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