Announcement of the elections to the European Parliament and the local elections on 26 May 2019

On 26 May 2019, the following will take place at the same time

• the election to the European Parliament,
• the city council elections and
• the local council elections in the districts of Einsiedel, Euba, Grüna, Klaffenbach, Kleinolbersdorf-Altenhain, Mittelbach, Röhrsdorf and Wittgensdorf

will take place.

The election lasts from 08:00 to 18:00.

1 Electoral district organisation

For the election to the European Parliament, the city of Chemnitz is divided into 143 general electoral districts.

For the city council elections, the city was divided into eight municipal constituencies. For the local council elections, each district in which a local council election is held forms its own constituency.

Voting for the city council and local council elections in the city of Chemnitz is also carried out in 143 general electoral districts.

The election notifications sent to eligible voters between 23 April 2019 and 5 May 2019 specify the local constituency, the electoral district and the polling station in which the voter can vote. If the polling station is accessible, the corresponding symbol for accessibility can be found below the polling station on the polling card (see Table 1). Otherwise, you will find the crossed-out symbol here.

The postal ballot boards will meet at 3:00 p.m. at the Vocational School Centre for Technology II, Schloßstraße 3, to conduct the admission check and subsequently determine and establish the postal ballot results.

2 Exercising the right to vote

Every person entitled to vote - unless they have a polling card - may only vote in the polling station of the electoral district in whose electoral roll they are entered.

Voters must bring their polling card and their official identity card - or passport in the case of foreign EU citizens.

The polling card should be handed in at the election.

Voting takes place using official ballot papers. The ballot papers are kept ready in the polling station and handed to the voter after entering the polling station.

Each person entitled to vote may only exercise their right to vote once and only in person. This also applies to voters who are also entitled to vote for the European Parliament in another Member State of the European Union (Section 6 (4) of the European Elections Act).

A person entitled to vote who cannot write or read or who is prevented by physical disability from casting his or her vote alone may be assisted by another person. The assistant is obliged to maintain the confidentiality of the information they obtain about another person's vote.

The election process and the subsequent ascertainment and determination of the election results in the electoral district are public. Everyone has access to the extent that this is possible without interfering with the election process.

3 Ballot papers, number of votes, casting of votes

3.1 Election to the European Parliament

The ballot paper for the election to the European Parliament (colour white) contains the name of the party and its abbreviation or the name of the other political association and its password as well as the first 10 candidates of each of the approved election proposals under a consecutive number and a circle to the right of the name of the person entitled to make the election proposal for identification.

Each voter has one vote.

The voter casts his or her vote in such a way that he or she clearly indicates on the right-hand side of the ballot paper by means of a cross placed in a circle or in some other way which election proposal it is to apply to.

The ballot paper must be marked by the voter in a polling booth in the polling station and folded in such a way that the voter's vote cannot be recognised.

No photographs or films may be taken in the polling booth.

3.2 Representative electoral statistics in the election to the European Parliament

In the Chemnitz electoral districts 2105, 2106, 8206, 8301, 8502, 9106, 9301, 9502 and 9601 as well as in the postal voting districts 0008 and 0011, representative electoral statistics are carried out in the European elections. Specially labelled ballot papers, in which the gender and age group are coded using a code letter, are used for this purpose.

This procedure is governed by the Act on General and Representative Electoral Statistics for Elections to the German Bundestag and Elections of Members of the European Parliament from the Federal Republic of Germany (Electoral Statistics Act - WStatG) of 21 May 1999 (Federal Law Gazette I p. 1023), last amended by Article 1a of the Act of 27 April 2013 (Federal Law Gazette I p. 962).

Representative electoral statistics form the basis for an electoral policy and sociological analysis of the election results and provide a specific picture of the expression of political will.

A violation of the secrecy of the ballot is ruled out in that

• the selected ballot box/postal ballot districts must comprise at least 400 eligible voters.
• the birth cohorts are combined into such large groups that no conclusions can be drawn about voting behaviour.
• the electoral rolls and the labelled ballot papers may not be merged.
• the ballot papers are initially counted at the polling station without statistical analysis. This is subsequently carried out under the protection of statistical secrecy without using the electoral roll at the Statistical Office of the Free State of Saxony.
• electoral statistical surveys may only be carried out by municipalities in which a separation of the statistical office from other municipal administrative offices is ensured by state law and statistical confidentiality is guaranteed by organisation and procedure.
• the results of representative electoral statistics are only published for the Free State of Saxony and not for individual electoral districts.
  

To record voter turnout, 10 birth year groups were defined separately according to gender:

Voting behaviour is registered for 6 birth year groups, broken down by gender:

3.2 City council and local council elections

The ballot papers for the city council elections (colours: Constituency 1 - chamois, Constituency 2 - violet, Constituency 3 - salmon, Constituency 4 - pink, Constituency 5 - light green, Constituency 6 - medium blue, Constituency 7 - medium green, Constituency 8 - light pink) or for the local council election (colour: orange) contain, under a consecutive number in each case

• the nominations authorised for the constituency, stating their designation in the order determined in accordance with Section 19 (5) of the Local Election Code,
• the surnames, first names and occupation or status of the candidates for each nomination in the authorised order, and
• for each candidate, three circles for identification.

Each voter has three votes.

Elections to the city council and all local councils are held in accordance with Section 30 SächsGemO in accordance with the principles of proportional representation.

Eligible voters can only cast their votes for candidates whose names are listed on the ballot paper. Eligible voters may cast their votes for different candidates of one nomination or different nominations (panache) or for one candidate up to three votes (cumulation).

Eligible voters cast their votes in such a way that they mark the candidate(s) they wish to vote for on the ballot paper by ticking the appropriate box(es) or in another unambiguous manner.

The ballot paper must be marked by the voter in the polling booth and folded in such a way that their vote is not recognisable.

No photographs or films may be taken in the polling booth.

4 Voting with a ballot paper or by postal vote

Anyone who has a polling card issued in Chemnitz for the election to the European Parliament may participate in this election by voting in any polling station in the city of Chemnitz or by postal vote.

Anyone who has a polling card for the municipal election for the city council election only can vote in any polling station in the constituency for which it was issued by casting their vote in person or by postal vote.

Anyone who has a polling card for the municipal election for the city council and a local council election can only exercise their right to vote for both elections in any polling station in the respective locality or by postal vote.

Anyone wishing to vote by postal ballot must obtain official ballot papers, official ballot paper envelopes and official ballot letter envelopes from the electoral authority - postal voting centre - and send the ballot letters to the electoral office.and send the ballot papers (each in a sealed ballot paper envelope) and the signed ballot papers to the office indicated on the ballot paper envelopes in good time so that they arrive there by 18:00 on election day at the latest:00 p.m. on election day at the latest. The ballot paper envelopes can also be handed in at the office indicated.

5 Penalty for electoral fraud

Anyone who votes without authorisation or otherwise causes an incorrect result of an election or falsifies the result is liable to a custodial sentence of up to five years or a monetary penalty; the attempt is punishable (Section 107a (1) and (3) of the Criminal Code).

Chemnitz, 10 May 2019

signed. Sven Schulze

Mayor