Election announcement

On 9 June 2024, the city of Chemnitz will simultaneously host

• 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 period 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 129 general electoral districts.

For the city council election, 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 city council and local council elections in the city of Chemnitz also takes place in 129 general electoral districts.

The election notifications sent to eligible voters in the period from 29 April 2024 to 19 May 2024 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 next to the polling station on the polling card (see Table 1). Otherwise, you will find the crossed-out symbol here.

Table 1: Accessible polling stations

The postal ballot boards will meet at 15:00 to carry out the admission check and subsequently determine and establish the postal ballot results in the

• Berufliches Schulzentrum für Technik II - Handwerkerschule, Schloßstraße 3, 09111 Chemnitz and in the
• Secondary School "Am Hartmannplatz", Hartmannstraße 21, 09113 Chemnitz,

together.

The election procedure in the general electoral districts, the admission check in the postal ballot boards and the subsequent determination and ascertainment of the election result in the electoral boards are open to the public. Everyone has access to the extent that this is possible without interfering with the election business.

2 Exercising the right to vote

Unless they have a polling card, voters 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 an 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 upon entering the polling station. The ballot papers must be marked by the voter in a voting booth in the polling station and folded in such a way that the vote cannot be recognised. Photography and filming in the polling booth is prohibited.

Every person entitled to vote may only exercise their right to vote once and only in person. This also applies to eligible 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).

The right to vote may not be exercised by a proxy instead of the person entitled to vote.

Eligible voters who are unable to read or who are unable to cast their vote alone due to physical impairment or disability may be assisted by another person. Assistance is limited to technical assistance in expressing a voting decision made and expressed by the eligible voters themselves. Assistance is not permitted if it is provided under improper influence, if it replaces or changes the self-determined decision of the person entitled to vote or if there is a conflict of interest on the part of the assisting person. The assistant must have reached the age of 16. They are obliged to maintain the confidentiality of any knowledge they gain about the election of another person while providing assistance.

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 placing a cross in a circle or in some other way, which election proposal he or she wishes to vote for.

3.2 Representative electoral statistics in the election to the European Parliament

In the Chemnitz electoral districts 4204 and 9503, representative electoral statistics are carried out in the election to the European Parliament. Specially labelled ballot papers are used for this purpose, on which the gender and age group are coded using a code letter.

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 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 recorded for 6 birth year groups, broken down by gender:

3.3 City council and local council elections

The ballot papers for the city council elections (colours: Constituency 1 - sandy brown, Constituency 2 - pink, Constituency 3 - green, Constituency 4 - chamois, Constituency 5 - blue, Constituency 6 - lemon yellow, Constituency 7 - lilac, Constituency 8 - old gold) or for the local council election (colour: apricot) each contain, under a consecutive number

• the nominations authorised for the constituency (for local council elections: the electoral area), stating their designation in the order determined in accordance with Section 19 (5) of the Saxon 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 vote for the candidates whose names appear on the ballot paper. Eligible voters may cast their votes for different candidates of a nomination or different nominations (panache) or cast up to three votes for one candidate (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 clear manner.

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 vote in this election by casting their vote 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 may 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 the right to vote for both elections in any polling station of the respective locality or by postal vote.

Anyone wishing to vote by postal ballot must apply to the electoral authority - postal voting centre - for official ballot papers, official ballot paper envelopes and official ballot letter envelopes.and send the ballot papers (each in a sealed ballot paper envelope) and the ballot papers with the signed affidavits in lieu of an oath to the office indicated on the ballot paper envelopes in good time so that they are received there by 6 p.m. 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 not exceeding five years or a monetary penalty. Unauthorised voting also includes anyone who casts a vote contrary to the voting decision of the person entitled to vote or without an expressed voting decision of the person entitled to vote within the scope of permissible assistance. The attempt is punishable (Section 107a (1) and (3) of the Criminal Code).

Chemnitz, 24 May 2024

Ralph Burghart
Mayor