(1) Persons entitled to vote, who on Election Day are expected to be prevented from casting their vote at their local election office because of travel, sickness or staying abroad, have the right to be issued a voting card.
(2) Voting cards shall be issued on request also to persons who are not able to visit a polling station to cast their vote because they cannot walk or be transported, are bedridden due to illness, age or other reasons, or because they serve a prison sentence, are inmates in a penal institution, or are in preventive or forensic detention, and who wish to cast their vote with a special election commission (Section 73, paragraph 1, NCEA), except if voting facilities according to Sections 72 or 74, NCEA are available.
(3) If conditions for issuing a voting card pursuant to paragraph 2 have ceased to exist, the person entitled to vote shall inform his municipality of residence in a timely fashion before Election Day, that he not longer wishes to be visited by a special election commission set up pursuant to Section 73, paragraph 1, NCEA.
(4) Voting card applications pursuant to paragraph 1 shall be filed with the municipality with a reason according to section 1, in whose election register the person entitled to vote is entered; An application by telephone is not permitted. Voting cards shall be properly justified and applied for in writing, beginning from the day of election announcement but no later than on the fourth day before Election Day, or in person no later than on the second day before Election Day, at 12 a.m. This latter deadline also applies to a written request for the voting card to be personally delivered to a person authorised by applicant, if possible. Abroad, an application to issue and deliver a voting card may also be filed with an Austrian diplomatic mission. With personal applications the identity of applicant shall be verified by a document, in written applications by an applicant not known to the authority or in electronically filed applications without digital signature, the identity of applicant can be verified also by other means, including by specifying passport number, presenting a copy of an identity card or any other official document. The municipality may check the passport number through the relevant authority and identity cards or other documents through the for the emission relevant authorities. If the technical requirements are given, the municipality may check the passport number on its own decision checking the central registry according to Section 22b of the Passport Law of 1992. In the case of paragraph 2, the application shall explicitly request the visit by a special election commission pursuant to Section 73, paragraph 1, NCEA, and shall indicate the premises where the applicant wishes to receive the special election commission, whereas persons in public detention has also to include an official certificate of detention.
(5) Persons entitled to vote, with primary domicile abroad and registered as voters (Section 2a of the Electoral Registration Act 1973) and provided their address is listed in the electoral register, shall directly after announcement of the Federal Presidential election be advised by mail from the municipality, in whose electoral register they are entered, about the option to exercise their right to vote by postal ballot. All application options, including application by Internet, if available, should be indicated. Such information may be sent by e-mail, if an e-mail address is known to the municipality. Persons having applied or voting cards pursuant to Section 2a, paragraph 6, or Section 9, paragraph 4, of the Electoral Registration Act 1973, shall receive such voting cards as soon as the proper printed forms and official ballot sheets are available to the municipality.
(6) Voting cards and voting cards for the second round of voting shall be designed as sealable envelopes. Voting cards shall be printed as shown in Schedule 4, voting cards for the second round of voting shall be printed as shown in Schedule 5. Technical features (Bar code or QR-Code) shall be introduced to ensure that, before forwarding the voting card to the district election board, the personal data of the person entitled to vote, including his signature are concealed behind a sealable flap, and that a perforation on the sealed voting card envelope will enable the district election officer to view personal data and affidavit of the voter without having to open the envelope proper. Voting cards for voters with the residence abroad have to be marked accordingly. Depending on the technical nature of the voting card the flap shall be printed with handling instructions on voting by postal ballot and on forwarding the voting card. On voting cards issued by automated data processing the mayor's signature may be replaced with a signature according section 19 and 20 of the Bundesverfassungsgesetz über Regelung zur Erleichterung des elektronischen Verkehrs mit öffentlichen Stellen (e-Government-Law -EGovG), BGBl.
I Nr. 10/2004, whereas section 19 para. 3 second sentence not is applicable) by merely printing his name; authentication by his office is not required. A sufficient number of voting cards has to be prepared by the relevant authority.
(7) If an application for a voting card is accepted, the voting card package shall also include an official ballot sheet pursuant to Section 11, paragraph 2, and a sealable white voting envelope. If the Federal Election Commission has announced the names of more than two candidates (Section 9) and the application was filed by a person entitled to vote, but living abroad, or a request was made accordingly, a voting card for the second round of voting, including an official ballot sheet pursuant to Section 11, paragraph 3, and a beige sealable envelope shall be provided. The ballot sheet pursuant to Section 11, paragraph 2, and the white envelope shall be inserted in the voting card; the ballot sheet pursuant to Section 11, paragraph 3, and the beige envelope shall be inserted in the voting card for the second round of voting, if applicable. All documents shall be handed over to the applicant. The applicant shall keep the respective voting cards in a safe place until voting. In the case of the posting of a voting card, the envelope has to be marked with “Wahlkarte für die Bundespräsidentenwahl XXXX”.
(8) For the handover or the posting of a voting card:
1. In the case of a personal handover of voting card, the applicant has to sign a confirmation. If the applicant is unable, a note has to be made about this fact.
2. the special hospitals according to section 72 NCEA the voting card has to be sent registered (“as personal”). In this case there has to be the comment “no handover to authorised representatives”.
3. if the voting card is delivered by personal messenger the confirmation has to be signed by the sick person him/herself. If the person is unable, a note has to be made about this fact.
4. Applicants not mentioned in ciff 2, the voting card has, in case of a sending by post, to be sent registered, unless the election card was demanded orally or the e-application had a qualified signature or the voting card was issued according to section 2 (a) para 6 or section 9 para 4 of the Wählerevidenzgesetz 1973.
5. In case that voting cards are transferred to persons other than digi.2 by personal messenger or by an Austrian representation abroad, provisions analog section 16 paragraph 1 and 2 of the ZustellG (“postal delivery law”) have to be applied. This under the “fact” that a postal voting card may be handed over to person eligible to vote, who has not yet reached 18 years. The handover may be done without prove, if the voting card was demanded orally or the electronically sent application had a qualified electronic signature.
6. Voting cards which were demanded written and were picked up in person by the applicant must only be handed out by the municipality against a written confirmation. If the applicant is unable to do so, a note has to be made about this fact. If there is a person with a power of attorney, s/he has to sign the confirmation.
7. The immediate takeaway of a voting card which was delivered by a messenger and the use as postal voting is not admissible. (?)
(9) Confirmations of receipt regarding voting cards, which were delivered by a messenger or through an Austrian Representation authority have in any case to be transferred to the municipalities which issued the voting cards. The electronic transferral of the confirmations by Austrian representation authorities is allowed. Written applications, confirmations of receipt, notes, electronic applications have to be transferred to the municipal election authority after the lapse of time of para 1. These materials have to be added to the election dossier of the municipality.
(10) Spare cards for lost voting cards must not be handed out by the municipality. Broken and not glued voting cards where the declaration of honour had not been filled yet, may be given back to the municipality. In this case, the municipality may hand out after receipt of the broken card, a spare card. A spoilt card has to be marked and has to be transferred to the municipal electoral authority who has to add the cad to the election dossier.
(11) The electoral authorities on the municipal level are responsible that voting cards (section 7 last sentence) which have been deposited in the local responsible post department, have to be fetched before closing on the last day before election day in order to be ready for handing out to the applicant on election day. The voting cards in the postal department which have not been picked up (section 7 last sentence) have to be separated and kept ready for the handover to an official person from the municipality . This information has to be given to the MFI, I order to inform voters (eg by a hotline) about whereabouts of their voting card. Not picked up election cards at Austrian authorities abroad have to be destroyed after the election day. The municipality which issued the voting card has to be informed electronically.
(12) A person entitled to vote has to be informed as soon as possible by the municipality if his/her application for a voting card was not accepted.
(13) The issue of a voting card has to be marked in the voting register with the word “Wahlkarte”, a voting card for the second round with “Wahlkarte 2”. Until the 29th day after election day the municipality has to answer a request from every person entitled to vote, if s/he had been issued a voting card. For his reason, municipalities have to keep copies of the voter registry ready, even after the voter registry had been forwarded to the municipal authorities, unless they have different means of registration (e.g. EDV-applications). For a request a person has to show documentation.
(14) In the case of the issue of a voting card according to paragraph 2 to a person entitled to vote, who is outside of his place of registry, the issuing municipality has to inform the municipality where the entitled person is, about the fact, that this person has to be visited by a special election authority. (?)
(15) The number of the issued voting cards is after the period of paragraph 4 to be communicated immediately to the provincial election authority. The provincial election commission has to communicate also the figure of the issued voting cards immediately to the Federal electoral commission, latest one day before election day. The figures have to be separated into – entitled to vote abroad – figure of voting cards for the 2nd round of the elections.
