Landtagswahl: Sachsen-Anhalt: Schon Zehntausende haben Briefwahl beantragt

Voters in the two largest cities of Saxony-Anhalt, Magdeburg and Halle, have already requested around 87,500 postal ballots – with many thousands more expected. This was reported by Deutsche Presse-Agentur. Magdeburg's press spokesman Michael Reif said that as of Monday, there were already approximately 48,300 postal ballot applications.

"We expect around 55,000 applications by the election day," he added. Overall, there are around 180,000 eligible voters in Magdeburg for the Landtag election on September 6th. In Halle, press spokesman Drago Bock reported that there were already around 39,200 postal ballot requests. The city had previously sent out about 176,000 voter notifications.

Compared to the 2021 Landtag election, around 36,800 postal voters were registered. Press spokesman Bock dismissed AfD leader Tino Chrupalla's suspicion that the postal voting process might not be as it should. "The election process is proceeding correctly in accordance with legal foundations: the Constitution of Saxony-Anhalt, the State Election Act, Saxony-Anhalt's Election Ordinance, and the State Election Supervision Act," he said.

Earlier, Land election director Christa Dieckmann rejected speculation that the postal vote might be insecure and easily manipulated. She told Deutsche Presse-Agentur that such general allegations were not new and explicitly rejected them. Throughout the election period, measures were to ensure that postal ballot documents went only to authorized individuals, and that no person could request more than four additional postal ballot applications.

Election officials were composed of five to nine members who mutually controlled each other. Dieckmann, a 61-year-old jurist who had overseen ten elections in the state since 1992, emphasized that the counting of postal ballot votes is open and can be observed by anyone, as far as this can be done without causing disruption.