Bundestag election: There is great time pressure when voting by post

Deutsche Post believes it is well prepared for postal voting in the federal election on February 23rd. The Bonn-based company announced that the dispatch of election notifications had begun. This allows citizens to apply for postal voting. According to the post office, you will not receive the documents for this, including voting slips, until the beginning of February at the earliest. In most municipalities, the postal vote application can also be submitted online. The post office, which belongs to the logistics group DHL, appealed to the municipalities to ensure that the election documents – i.e. the ballot papers – were printed in a timely manner.

In early elections, the time window for returning voting documents is shorter than in regular elections – the post office also points out this. “We are ready to go,” says Post Germany boss Nikola Hagleitner. She emphasizes that this time, given the tight time frame, it is particularly important “that everyone involved – municipalities, service providers and postal voters – make their contribution to the success of postal voting.” In addition to the post office, other smaller mail service providers have also received postal voting orders.

The federal election management in Wiesbaden announced: “All eligible voters entered in the voters’ register will receive an election notification from their municipality by February 2, 2025 at the latest.” All citizens who were registered with their municipality as their main residence on January 12th, the 42nd day before the election, are registered in the voters’ register.

The election notifications also indicate the respective polling station for voters on February 23rd. Anyone who has not received an election notification by February 2nd should immediately contact the election office at their main residence to have it verified.

Germans abroad who are not registered in the Federal Republic but want to vote must apply in writing to the relevant municipality to be entered in the voters’ register. The Federal Returning Authority added: “The application is also an application for the issue of a voting slip for postal voting and can be submitted now.”