Postal voting procedure

(1) Voters who have been issued with voting cards according to § 38 and § 39 can exercise their right to vote also by way of transmitting the sealed voting card to the election authority entitled to accept them (postal vote). A vote can be cast by means of postal voting immediately after receipt of the voting card.

(2) For that purpose, the voter shall put the official ballot paper completed by him or her into the beige-ballot envelope, close the envelope and put it into the voting card. After that, the voter shall declare in lieu of an oath by his or her personal signature that he or she completed the ballot paper personally, unobserved and uninfluenced. Following that, the voter shall seal the voting card. The voting card is to be submitted to the competent district elections authority in due time so that the district elections authority receives the voting card not later than on the election day, 5 p.m., or is to be cast in a polling station on the election day during the opening hours of the polling station or in a district election authority until 5 p.m. The submission by a carrier/barrier is possible. In the case of votes cast abroad voting cards received by an Austrian official representation or an Austrian unit by the sixth day before the election day, by a representation outside the European Economic Area or outside Switzerland by the ninth day before the election day, are to be forwarded to the competent district elections authority by the representation or Austrian unit. Voting cards received after the sixth day before the election day, in representations outside the European Economic Area or outside Switzerland after the ninth day before the election day, are permitted to be forwarded to the competent district elections authority by an Austrian official representation or an Austrian unit if it seems to be ensured that the voting card can nevertheless be received by the competent district elections authority in due time, or the person entitled to vote is informed that receipt in due time is possibly not ensured. The costs of transmitting the voting card to the district elections authority by mail are to be borne by the federal government.

3) Casting a vote by means of postal voting is null and invalid if:

1. the declaration in lieu of an oath on the voting card has not been made by the person entitled to vote, or there is evidence that it has not been made by the person entitled to vote,

2. the voting card does not contain a ballot paper envelope,

3. the voting card only contains a ballot paper envelope or several ballot paper envelopes other than the beige ballot paper envelope,

4. the voting card contains two or more beige ballot paper envelopes,

5. the ballot paper envelope bears text apart from the printed number of the provincial constituency,

6. the examination of integrity (§ 90, para 1) has revealed that the voting card is so damaged that it cannot be ruled out that the ballot paper envelope inside has been previously improperly taken out or put back,

7. the data or the signature of the voter can no longer be made visible because the boxes under the flap of the voting card have been glued over, or

8. the voting card has not been received by the district elections authority by 5 p.m. on the election day at the latest or cast in a polling station by that time.

(4) After receipt of the voting card used to cast a vote by means of postal voting by the district elections authority, the authority at least has to register the data under the flap as registered in the panel „consecutive number in the electoral roll“, „municipality“ as well as „Austrian living abroad“. The registration by the barcode or QR-code contained on the voting card is permitted as well. The voting cards are to be officially kept secure until they are counted (§ 90, para 1).

(5) The district elections authority shall ensure that voting cards are accepted from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on election day. Where necessary, the district election authority shall enure that voting cards received by post shall be accepted on the day prior to election day. Voting cards from ist own electoral district have to be registered in pursuance of para 4.