Home > 1.1.2.1 Verifying procedure of the voter's register > GERMANY - Federal Electoral Regulations
 
 
 
Download file    
 
 
Article 16
 

Registration of Persons Eligible to Votein the Voters' Register

(1) Officially, all persons eligible to vote are who are registered with the registration authorities on the thirty-fifth day before the election (qualifying date) must be entered in the voters' register.

1. in respect of a domicile,

2. in respect of a seagoing vessel eligible to fly the German flag (Article 12 (4), no. 1 of the Law) and on which they are employed or hired to serve or undergoing training as a cap-tain or crew member,

3. in respect of a vessel in inland navigation enrolled in a ship's register within the Federal Republic of Germany (Article 12 (4), no. 2 of the Law),

4. in respect of a penal institution or similar establishment (Article 12 (4), no. 3 of the Law).

(2) On application those persons eligible to vote shall be entered in the voters' register

1. pursuant to Article 12 (1) of the Law,

a) (deleted)

b) who, without having a domicile, are otherwise habitually resident in the electoral area,

c) who are in a penal institution or similar establishment and must not to be officially entered in the voters' register under Paragraph 1 (4) above,

2. a) pursuant to Article 12 (2), sentence 1, no. 1 of the Law, and

b) pursuant to Article 12 (2), sentence 1, nos. 2 and 3 of the Law,

who are not to be officially entered in the voters' register under Paragraph 1 (1) above.

(3) If a person eligible to vote who must be entered in the voters' register pursuant to Paragraph 1 above moves his or her domicile and registers with the registration authority of the new place of residence prior to the beginning of the period during which the voters' register is to be on public display (Article 17 (1), sentence 2 of the Law), he or she shall be entered in the voters' register of the commune to which he or she has moved on application only. A person eligible to vote and entered in the voters' register pursuant to Paragraph 1 above who registers under a new address within the same commune shall remain entered in the voters' register of the polling district in which he or she was entered on the qualifying date. Upon registration, the person eligible to vote must be informed of the provisions of sentences 1 and 2 above. If the entry in the register is made on application, the local authority of the commune in which the new place of residence lies shall report this immediately to the local authority of the former place of residence, which shall delete the elector from its voters' register. If, in the case specified in sentence 1 above, the local authority of the former place of residence has or later receives a notice of disqualification from voting, it shall immediately forward this information to the local authority of the new place of residence, which shall delete the person from its voters' register; the person concerned must be informed of such a deletion.

(4) Paragraph 3, sentences 1 and 3 shall apply as appropriate to persons eligible to vote who, on the qualifying date, are not registered in respect of a domicile but register with the registration authorities in respect of a domicile prior to the period in which the voters' register is on public display.

(5) If a person eligible to vote who is entered in the voters' register pursuant to Paragraph 1 above occupies another domicile in a different commune, which becomes his or her main residence, or moves his or her main residence to another commune, Paragraph 3 above shall apply as appropriate if he or she registers with the registration authorities prior to the period in which the voters' register is on public display.

(6) Which domicile of a person eligible to vote is his or her main residence shall be deter-mined by the statutory provisions regarding registration.

(7) Before a person is entered in the voters' register, it must be ascertained that he or she meets the voting requirements laid down in Article 12 of the Law and that he or she is not disqualified from voting pursuant to Article 13 of the Law. If registration in the voters' register is based solely on an application, it must also be ascertained that the application has been submitted in due time and form.

(8) If the local authority of a commune does not accede to an application for registration or deletes a person from the voters' register, it must inform the person concerned immediately. The person concerned may appeal against the decision; he or she must be advised of this option. Article 22 (2), (4) and (5) shall apply as appropriate. The periods stipulated for serv-ice of the decision (Article 22 (4), sentence 1) and for a decision on the appeal (Article 22 (5), sentence 4) shall apply only if the objection has been lodged earlier than the twelfth day before the election.

(9) The local authority of the commune must, not later than the qualifying date, advise the management of any penal institution or similar establishment within the commune of the provisions of Paragraph 2 (1), subparagraph (c) above and of the need to inform the persons concerned if the registration laws of the Land do not provide for compulsory registration of the inmates of such establishments.