Notification of Persons Eligible to Vote

(1) The local authority of the municipality shall notify every person eligible to vote registered in the voters’ register by means of a postcard similar to the specimen at Annex 3 not later than the day before the voters’ register is open for inspection. The notice shall contain

1. the surname, the forenames and the place of residence of the person eligible to vote,

2. details of the polling station an whether it is barrierfree,

3. details of polling hours,

4. the number under which the person eligible to vote is registered in the voters’ register,

5. the request to bring the voter’s notification to the poll and to have his or her national identity card or passport ready,

5a the instruction that each person entitled to vote may vote only once and must do so personally as laid down in Section 14 subsection (4) of the Federal Elections Act,

6. the instruction that the voter’s notification is not a substitute for a polling card and does not therefore confer the right to vote at any polling station other than the one designated,

7. a note as to where persons entitled to vote may obtain information on barrierfree polling stations and on aids,

8. instructions on how to apply for a polling card and how to dispatch postal ballot documents. The instructions must at least contain directions on

a) the fact that the application for a polling card is only to be completed if the person eligible to vote wishes to vote at another polling station in his or her constituency or by postal ballot,

b) the conditions under which a polling card is issued (Section 25 subsection (1) and Section 27 subsection (4), third sentence),

c) the fact that the polling card may not be applied for by anyone other than the person eligible to vote unless entitlement to apply is certified by submission of a written authority (Section 27 subsection (3)).

Persons eligible to vote that are registered in the voters’ register pursuant to Section 16 subsections (2) to (5) on application and, more specifically, are registered after the notifications pursuant to the first sentence have been sent must be notified of their registra-tion immediately after such registratio

(2) An application form for the issue of a polling card and postal ballot documents in accordance with the specimen at Annex 4 shall be printed on the reverse of the notifica-tion specified in subsection (1).

(3) Subsections (1) and (2) shall not apply to persons eligible to vote who are regis-tered in the voters’ register pursuant to Section 16 subsection (2) by sole reason of an application and have already applied for a polling card and postal ballot documents.

(4) If a Land Returning Officer finds that as a result of natural disasters or by force ma-jeure the timely notification pursuant to subsection (1) is disrupted, he shall decide that the notification may subsequently be carried out in the area concerned. If there is cause for concern that the notification pursuant to subsection (1) cannot be effected until the sixth day before the election, he shall decide that the persons eligible to vote shall be notified of the details specified in subsection (1), second sentence, numbers 2, 3, 5 to 7 in another appropriate way. To this end, the Land Returning Officer may make supplementary adjustments in line with special circumstances in individual cases. He shall publicize in an appropriate way the reasons for the disruption, the area concerned, the adjustments made by him in individual cases and the manner of notification.