Dr. Anton Beer
Dr. Anton Beer
Dr. A. Beer
InfoKommunalwahl
Also non-German EU citizens in Regensburg may vote for the Major and City Council!Here, a quick English explanation on: How to vote in Regensburg!
Please support me on March 15, 2020, in becoming member of the City Council of Regensburg:
Write a 3 in front of list 6 (FDP) line 25 (in the center) of your ballot!
Local elections are personal elections!
Local elections such as the election for the City Council of Regensburg are personal elections in Bavaria. You may vote for individual candidates irrespective of party (list) membership. You can give candidates of your choice up to 3 votes by making a cross (X) or writing a number (1, 2, or 3) in front of the candidate names. Overall, you can give up to 50 votes in Regensburg. You can give less votes, but not more. In addition, you can vote (X) for one (but not more) party (list). This party (list) will receive your remaining votes, that is votes that you have not given to individual candidates.
Here, an explanation and a few examples. This explanation is meant to be informative and helpful. However, I cannot guarantee that this explanation is fully correct and complete on all aspects. For fully correct and complete descriptions, please consult the applicable laws and regulations (German only): BayGLKrWG, BayGLKrWO, GLKrWBek, BayGO, BayLKrO or the Electoral Office of Regensburg. Moreover, another easy to understand explanation is given here (German only): Bayrischer Rundfunk.
What to vote for?
On March 15, 2020, the EU citizens of Regensburg that qualify (e.g., at least 18 years old, living in Regensburg, not being excluded) are invited to vote for:
• the Major (Oberbürgermeister)
• and the City Council of Regensburg (Stadtrat).
Note: EU citizens throughout Bavaria (also outside of Regensburg) may be invited to vote on March 15. They may also vote for the Major and City Council of their local community. People living in smaller communities may have to vote additionally for the County Council (Kreistag) and County Chief (Landrat). However, the citizens of Regensburg are only invited to vote for the Major and the City Council.
Usually, all eligible citizens of Regensburg will receive a Voting Card (Wahlbenachrichtigung) from the Electoral Office (Wahlamt) of Regensburg. If you think that you are eligible to vote, but have not received this Voting Card (actually a letter), you may contact the Electoral Office of Regensburg. The Voting Card tells you where you can vote, that is the polling station (Wahllokal) that applies to you. It is recommended to carry this Voting Card with you when you go to the polling station to cast your vote on March 15. However, in case you loose it or forget it, you can still cast your vote, but you must show an identification card. The Voting Card also gives you an option to cast your vote by mail (not explained further here).
If you are eligible to vote and you show up at the appropriate polling station, you will receive two ballots: one for the Major and one for the City Council. Note that people living outside of Regensburg may receive two additional ballots for the County Chief (Landrat) and County Council (Kreistag). The number of votes that you have for the City Council (or County Council) depends on the size of the city and county. In Regensburg, you have one vote for the Major (yellow ballot) and 50 votes for the City Council (green ballot). The maximum number of votes is also printed on your ballot.
Major (Oberbürgermeister)
For the Major, there is only one candidate per party. So, you just select (by a cross) the one (but not more) candidate/party that you like. Of course, I recommend to vote for Horst Meierhofer (No. 6: FDP), but this vote is independent from the vote for the City Council and you can still vote for me even if you make a different choice here.
City Council (Stadtrat)
For the City Council (green ballot), there are several lists (Wahlvorschäge) and each list has many candidates. Each list belongs to a party or political organisation. Each list has a number (e.g., 6 for FDP). Each list has up to 50 candidates numbered consecutively (1 ... 50). Some lists have less than 50 candidates, but none has more. You can check all registered lists and candidates at the Electoral Office. The candidate number does not necessarily reflect the order of the persons that will ultimately become member of the City Council. This is because you can distribute your 50 votes across lists and across candidates within each list. In German this is called "panaschieren". Moreover, you can give individual candidates up to 3 votes. In German this is called "kumulieren". For instance, you can give 2 votes to candidate 50 of list A, 1 vote to candidate 5 of list B, and 3 votes to candidate 25 of list 6 (that's me ;-)).
You don't have to distribute all of your votes to individual candidates. If you are not using all of your votes, your ballot is still valid. If you don't want to waive some of your votes, you can additionally select one (but not more) complete list (party) by making a cross (X) at the top of the list. If you vote for a list, then all the votes that you have not given to individual candidates will be given to the members of this list (starting from the top in the given order) until all of your 50 votes are exhausted.
Now, how is the City Council determined? First, the 50 seats of the City Council will be distributed among the lists (parties) proportionate to the number of all votes for each party. Then, the number of seats for each party will be given to those candidates with the most votes. For instance, if all candidates of list 6 (summed up) get 10% of the overall votes, then this list (party) will get 5 (10%) of the seats. These 5 seats will go to those candidates of list 6 that have received the most votes (irrespective of the candidate number on the list). So, if you give me so many votes that I will have the most votes on list 6, I will be your next City Council member. This would be good for Regensburg, for you, and for me ;-).
A few ballot examples:
In this example you give 3 votes to me (candidate 25 of list 6). You waive the remaining 47 (50-3) votes, but your ballot is still valid.
In this example you give 3 votes to me (candidate 25 of list 6). Moreover, you give 2 votes each to my colleagues Ms. Opitz and Mr. Meierhofer. Finally, you selected list 6 by the list cross (X) on top. This means that the remaining 43 votes (50-3-2-2) will be distributed to the candidates (one vote each) of list 6 (starting from the top) that have not yet received 3 votes.
In this example you give 3 votes to me (candidate 25 of list 6). Moreover, you give 2 votes each to my colleagues Ms. Opitz and Mr. Meierhofer. Finally, you selected list 1 by the list cross (X) on top. This means that the remaining 43 votes (50-3-2-2) will be distributed to the candidates (one vote each) of list 1 (starting from the top).
This is a more complicated example, but it is still a valid ballot. Again you give 3 votes to me (candidate 25 of list 6). Moreover, you give 2 votes each to my colleagues Ms. Opitz and Mr. Meierhofer. You also give 3 votes each to candidates 1201 and 1218 of list 12. Finally, you selected list 1 by the list cross (X) on top. This means that the remaining 37 votes (50-3-2-2-3-3) will be distributed to the candidates (one vote each) of list 1 (starting from the top).
List 12 is a bit more complicated. So, let's take a closer look: Party L (list 12) has not proposed 50 candidates, but instead only 18. So, only these 18 people are listed. However, in order to fill all lines of the list, the top candidates are listed three times and the other twice. So, if you want to give the top candidate (1201) 3 votes, you can either write a 3 in front of the name or a 1 in front of each line. A cross (X) counts as one vote (so equivalent to 1). Candidate 1218 is only listed twice, but you wanted to give this person 3 votes. So, instead of using the lines you wrote a 3 in front of the name.
So, you are quite flexible in how you can cast your vote. Isn't that great?! You are even allowed to cancel individual candidates (not explained here). Nevertheless, there are a few things that are not allowed and that would make your ballot (at least partially) invalid. So, here a few DON'Ts::
• Don't give more than a total of 50 votes (across all candidates)!
• Don't give an individual candidate more than 3 votes!
• Don't select more than one party (list cross on top)!
• Don't write personal statements on the ballot that would allow someone else to identfy your person!
If you find this information helpful, please give me your vote and spread the word!