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Burglary in Duisburg postal voting center: Police are investigating!
Break-in at Duisburg's postal voting center before local elections: investigations are ongoing, but no voting documents were affected.
Burglary in Duisburg postal voting center: Police are investigating!
In Duisburg, the night before the local elections in North Rhine-Westphalia brought an unpleasant incident: unknown people broke into the postal voting center at the South Comprehensive School. Police and city spokeswoman Gabi Priem have already confirmed the situation and given the all-clear. “Nothing was lost,” assured Priem, as the ballot papers that were being counted at the school were not on site at the time of the break-in. The break-in was carried out through a broken window, but the investigation is already in full swing.
Yesterday, September 15th, citizens still had until 2 p.m. to cast their votes. The polling stations in Duisburg opened promptly at 8 a.m. and all 323 polling stations at 169 locations were operational. Interest in postal voting has increased significantly this year: More than a quarter of eligible voters in many large cities requested a postal vote, which is an increase compared to the 2020 local elections, when turnout was lower due to the corona pandemic.
Voter turnout and excitement
The initial assessment of voter turnout was positive. At 12:30 p.m., voter turnout was already at 29.5%, which was five percentage points higher than the comparable figure in 2020. At that time, participation was 39.1%, the lowest value in North Rhine-Westphalia. It remains to be seen what the numbers will look like at the end of election day, while Duisburg residents are curious and interested in the elections.
The police have started investigating potential perpetrators, even though no votes or voting documents have been damaged or stolen at this time. It irritates citizens that such a break-in occurs just before such an important election, but the mood remains optimistic. The city of Duisburg and the electoral authorities are doing their best to ensure everything runs smoothly.
The situation shows once again that the security and integrity of the elections are a top priority. The people of Duisburg can breathe a sigh of relief: the incident does not cast a shadow on the upcoming elections. To find out more about the background to the break-in, T-Online also provides information about the ongoing investigation. Further details can also be found at Der Westen.