Press release no. 35/21 of 8. September 2021
Background information on the 2021 Bundestag Election: some 650,000 voluntary workers actively assist in the election
WIESBADEN – On 26 September 2021, roughly 650,000 poll workers will contribute on an honorary basis in some 85,000 electoral boards to the success of the election to the 20th German Bundestag. “They are the basis of the election being organised by the people and thus the most important pillar of the electoral procedure”, said Federal Returning Officer Dr. Georg Thiel. The Federal Returning Officer asks all citizens to register for this particularly important and voluntary activity with their competent municipal authority, and he expresses his sincere thanks to all those who are going to work as volunteers in the electoral boards on 26 September 2021, thus doing a great service to our democracy and, consequently, to all of us.
At the forthcoming Bundestag election there will be approximately 60,000 polling districts for ballot box voting and about 25,000 districts for postal voting. The boundaries of the polling districts have been drawn by the municipalities so as to make it as easy as possible for voters to get to the polling stations. At each polling station and for each postal voting district there will be an electoral board consisting of an electoral officer, his or her deputy and three to seven board members. Some large cities require up to 10,000 poll workers to conduct the Bundestag election.
The electoral board organises and supervises the proper conduct of the election, explains the election regulations to the citizens, where necessary, and counts the votes after the polling station has been closed.
What poll workers have to do is illustrated in three videos (in German) on the website of the Federal Returning Officer. They deal with the electoral board, the procedures on election day, the counting of votes and the documentation work.
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