Dusseldorf Armin Laschet made an embarrassing mistake in the general election on Sunday. When casting his vote, he folded his ballot the wrong way round so that his first and second votes can be seen.
This is shown by agency photos of Laschet’s vote at the ballot box. His wife folded the ballot the wrong way too. In doing so, both violate voting secrecy. Now there is speculation: Are your votes in the federal election 2021 therefore invalid? So is the legal situation:
Voting secrecy violated: what is regulated?
According to the electoral principles anchored in the Basic Law, the Bundestag election is general, direct, free, equal – and secret. Voting secrecy is a valuable asset in Germany, so the votes should be cast by those entitled to vote in secret, i.e. in the voting booth. According to the Federal Returning Officer, the voting slip in the booth must be folded in such a way that the vote cannot be recognized. Armin Laschet and his wife violated this principle.
Furthermore, according to the Federal Returning Officer, eligible voters are to be rejected at the ballot box if they have violated voting secrecy in such a way. The ballot paper would then have to be destroyed by the electoral board, the eligible voters would then have to secretly cast their votes on a new ballot paper and fold the paper correctly.
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Armin Laschet did not vote in secret: is his vote invalid?
But Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet was not rejected and his ballot ended up in the ballot box. In this case, his vote is still valid, although voting secrecy was violated, said Federal Returning Officer Georg Thiel via Twitter. Because the ballot paper can no longer be sorted out in the ballot box. Therefore, Armin Laschet and his wife still cast their votes validly.
And that Armin Laschet voted for himself with the first vote and his party, the CDU, with the second vote, is hardly surprising. Federal Returning Officer Thiel wrote: “As expected, a well-known politician elected his own party. Influencing the voters cannot be seen in it. “
Thiel reminded, however, that voters with an incorrectly folded ballot paper should generally be rejected at the ballot box. You have to be given a new ballot, so Thiel.
More: Coalition calculator – which parties have a chance of winning a majority in the Bundestag?