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Article 36
 

Postal Ballot

(1) When voting by postal ballot, the voter shall send the District Returning Officer of the constituency in which his or her polling card was issued a sealed postal ballot envelope containing

a) his or her polling card and,

b) in a separate sealed envelope, his or her ballot paper

in due time to ensure that the postal ballot letter is received not later than 6 p.m. on election day. Article 33 (2) shall apply as appropriate.

(2) The voter or the person assisting him or her must indicate on the polling card that he or she gives an assurance in lieu of an oath to the District Returning Officer that the ballot paper has been marked either personally or in accordance with the declared intent of the voter. The District Returning Officer shall be responsible for accepting such an assurance in lieu of an oath; he or she shall be considered an authority within the meaning of Article 156 of the Penal Code.

(3) In the event of an order from the Land government or an agency designated by it pursuant to Article 8 (3), the place of the District Returning Officer specified in Paragraph (1), sentence 1, and in Paragraph (2) shall be taken by the local authority of the commune that has issued the polling cards or the administrative authority of the district in which this commune lies.

(4) Postal ballot letters may be posted as standard mail without any special form of dispatch and free of charge if they are in official ballot letter envelopes. Anyone who uses a special form of dispatch shall pay the amount in excess of the letter rate otherwise applicable themselves. The Federal Government shall pay the German PTT Administration POSTDIENST the letter rate for every official ballot letter envelope forwarded by it, posted without stamp, or sent by a special form of dispatch