Every election year, very clever people believe that they have discovered election fraud: the ballot paper has no corner in the top right, which is why it is supposed to be invalid.
For the federal election, many people will once again cast their votes in advance by postal vote.
But a few people noticed something that fits wonderfully into the Reichsbürger myth: the upper right corner of the ballot paper is missing, and sometimes it is also punched. Is there a trick behind it that makes the ballot papers invalid?
For example, this photo is being distributed:
The user wrote:
“How do you cancel a document? Cut off the top right corner correctly. This ballot paper came in the mail today. The voting slip is invalid and will then be placed in an URNE! It couldn't be clearer. Elections have been illegal and invalid since 1956!”
In 2017 it was also claimed that ballot papers were invalid and would be thrown away, and AfD voters in particular were afraid that their vote would not be counted:
Why is the corner missing?
The explanation for this is as simple as it is unspectacular: it is a tactile aid for the blind and visually impaired.
So that blind and visually impaired people can also vote, the ballot paper is placed in a template. So that it fits in there properly, the top right corner is either cut off or punched.
An audio CD also explains how to use the voting template, how the ballot paper is structured, which candidates are up for election and which hole number should be marked with a cross for the corresponding candidate/party.
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since the 2009 federal election - and yet every election year some people believe that the ballot papers are invalid as a result.
But why is this even believed?
To understand this, we have to briefly delve into the Reichsbürger world (as much as we feel sorry for it). Section 39 of the Federal Election Act regulates when a ballot paper is invalid, but there is no mention of cut or punched corners there.
Reich citizens, i.e. people who believe that Germany is still an occupied country, claim, for example, that commercial law states that every official document must have four corners. However, there is nothing about this anywhere (except in the imagination of the Reich citizens).
An explanation for this can be derived from the poor understanding of US laws with a pinch of gibberish:
Four Courters Law in the USA . This legal regulation simply states that only what is written “ within the four corners of the contract ” may apply to any document.
However, this should not be taken literally, but the point is that only what has been recorded in writing applies to documents , whereas oral agreements are not legally enforceable.
However, Reich citizens take this US law (after all, according to their belief, Germany is still occupied by the USA, which is why their laws also apply) literally and therefore believe that a document with a corner cut off, which therefore has five corners, is invalid.
And as for the alleged invalidity of all elections since 1956: also wrong. The Federal Constitutional Court declared an electoral law invalid a few years ago, but this does not invalidate all elections ( we reported ).
Conclusion
Ballot papers that are punched or have a missing corner are also valid, and have been since 2009. However, we are sure that the claim will arise again in the next elections.
Further sources: German Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired , Consumer Protection
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )