Voting by Means of Voting Machines
(1) Voting machines may be used instead of ballot papers and ballot boxes to facilitate the casting and counting of votes.
(2) Voting machines as specified in subsection (1) must guarantee the secrecy of the ballot. For use at elections to the German Bundestag, their design must be officially approved for individual elections or on a general basis. The Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community decides on the approval of a voting machine at the request of the manufacturer. The permission of the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community must be obtained before an officially approved voting machine can be used. This permission may be given for individual elections or on a general basis.
(3) The Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community is authorised, by way of a statutory instrument not requiring the endorsement of the Bundesrat, to issue more detailed provisions on:
1. the prerequisites for the official approval of the design of voting machines as well as for the withdrawal and revocation of the approval,
2. the official approval procedure governing the design,
3. the procedure governing the examination of a voting machine for conformity with the officially approved design,
4. the public testing of a voting machine prior to its use,
5. the procedure governing the granting of official permission for the use of a voting machine as well as the withdrawal and the revocation of the permission,
6. the special points that have to be borne in mind in connection with the election as a result of the use of voting machines.
In the cases specified in numbers 1 and 3, the statutory instrument is issued in agreement with the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.
(4) Section 33 subsection (1), first sentence, and subsection (2) apply accordingly for the operation of a voting machine.