(1) The provisions of Sections 52 to 55, 57 to 59, 61 to 67, 69 to 72, 73, paragraphs 1 to paragraph 3, first sentence, and paragraph 4, as well as the provisions of Section 74, NCEA, shall apply to the election process, whereas Section 61, NCEA, shall apply under the proviso that election witnesses may be appointed by any authorised service recipient of a published candidate nomination proposal (Section 9), or by one of his deputies.

(2) Voters with voting cards according to Section 5a may cast their votes in any polling station, or by forwarding the sealed voting card to their district election board (postal ballot).

(3) In doing so, a voter shall fill out the official ballot sheet, put it into the voting envelope, seal it and place it into the voting card, then declare on the voting card with his own signature in lieu of an oath to have completed the official ballot sheet in person, unobserved, uninfluenced and at a time prior to closure of the last Austrian polling station, subsequently he shall seal the voting card and make sure to forward it in a timely fashion to his responsible district election board, so that it is received there no later than on Election Day at 17:00 hours; or on election day in a polling station during opening hours or district election commission till 17:00. A handover by messenger is possible. When voting abroad, the voting card can also be forwarded through an Austrian diplomatic mission or an Austrian police or military unit till the sixth day before election day, at a diplomatic mission outside the European Economic Area or Switzerland till the ninth day before election day. Forwarding after the sixth day before the election day, in diplomatic mission outside the European Economic Area or Switzerland till the ninth day before election day to the responsible district election board is admissible when it seems to be guaranteed, that the voting card can arrive on time at the relevant district election board, or the entitled person is being informed, that the arrival possibly might not be on time. Costs for mailing the voting card to the district election board shall be borne by the federal authorities.

(4) Postal votes may be cast immediately after receipt of the voting card, but if a second round of voting should occur, a postal vote cannot be cast before the ninth day after the first round Election Day.

(5) Postal votes shall be void, if:

1. the declaration in lieu of an oath does not appear on the voting card or was verifiably not signed by the person entitled to vote,
2. the voting card does not include a voting envelope,
3. the voting card contains only another or several other envelopes, but not the white one,
4. the voting card for the second round contains only another or several other envelopes, but not the beige one,
5. the voting card contains two or more white voting envelopes,
6. the voting card for the second round contains two or more beige envelopes,
7. the voting envelope has been written on,
8. an integrity examination (Section 90, paragraphs 3 and 4, NCEA) shows that the voting card has been damaged in such a way, as not to exclude previous abusive removal and reinsertion of the enclosed voting envelope,
9. the voting card has not arrived on election-day at 17:00 hours at the latest at a district election authority or if it has not been handed over in a polling station or
10. the voting card for the second round has arrived prior to the 9th day after first round Election Day, or it is evident, that it was used for voting before that date.

(6) After arrival of a voting card via letter voting in the district election board, the relevant fields for “continuous number in the voting registry”, “municipality”, “Austrian abroad” have to be filled with data. A barcode or QR-code is admissible for this reason. Afterwards the voting card has to be officially protected till the counting (section 14a para 1).

(7) On Election Day, the District election board has to be prepared to receive voting cards from 08:00 till 17:00. If necessary, the District election board has to be prepared to receive the voting cards which were sent by post on the day before the elections. These voting cards have to be registered according paragraph 6.