Apply for a polling card

Would you like to vote in a different polling station or take part in the election by postal vote? Then you need a polling card. You can find out how to obtain one here.

You want to vote in the election by postal vote. In this case, you must apply for a polling card with postal voting documents.
The polling card will indicate where you can apply for these documents. However, you can also apply for a polling card from your local authority before you receive your polling card.
If you are unable to use the designated polling station due to a disability, you can also apply for a polling card.
If you collect your polling card and postal voting documents in person from the municipal or local authority, you have the opportunity to cast your vote on the spot. The administration will ensure that you can mark your ballot paper unobserved and place it in the ballot paper envelope.

To the municipal or city administration of your place of residence (main residence).

Written power of attorney if a third person is to submit the application for you or receive your documents.

You are eligible to vote in the relevant election and are entered in the electoral roll.

You can apply for your polling card as follows:

• You go to the city or municipal administration in person and collect the polling card there,
• You submit a written application - you can use the form on the back of the voter's notification,
• You apply for the polling card electronically, if your city or municipality offers such a procedure (online application) or you send an e-mail to your municipal authority with the following information:
  - First name, surname
  - date of birth
  - address,
  and if the postal voting documents are to be sent to a different address, this address as well.
• Ask a representative who has your written authorization to collect the documents for you.

It is not possible to apply by telephone.

In principle, polling cards with postal voting documents can only be applied for up to the second day before the election, in the case of European and Bundestag elections by 3 p.m. and in the case of state, local and direct elections by 1 p.m., at the office indicated on the polling card. Only in exceptional cases (e.g. if you were not included in the voters' register and missed the deadline for an application for inclusion in the voters' register or the deadline for an objection to the voters' register through no fault of your own) can you apply for a polling card with postal voting documents up to 3.00 p.m. on election day.

If you can provide credible evidence that you have lost your polling card for the Bundestag election or that you have not received the polling card you applied for, you can be issued with a new polling card up to 12 noon on the day before the election. In the case of local elections, you can be issued with a new polling card up to 3 p.m. on the day of the election if you have not received the polling card you applied for.

There are no fees.

Postage for sending in voting documents is free of charge within the Federal Republic of Germany.

If you are unable to cast your vote by postal vote due to a disability, another person may assist you. Your helper must be at least 16 years old and confirm by means of an affirmation in lieu of an oath that the ballot paper has been marked in accordance with your declared wishes.

If you are entitled to vote but are not entered in the electoral roll, you can apply for a polling card

• if you can prove that, through no fault of your own, you missed the deadline for applying to be included in the voters' register (up to the 21st day before the election) or the deadline for objecting to the voters' register (20th to 16th day before the election),
• the right to participate in the election did not arise until after the deadline for an application for inclusion in the voters' register or the deadline for objections to the voters' register had expired,
• or if the right to vote was only determined in the objection or complaint procedure and the municipality only became aware of the determination after the electoral roll was closed.
  

With a polling card, you can also vote in any polling station in the constituency.

Further information on the subject of elections can be found at