Postal voting boom in Lower Saxony: There are already so many applications!

On February 23, 2025, the Bundestag election will take place in Lower Saxony, and the rush to the postal voting is noticeably high. Many citizens entitled to vote in various cities have used the opportunity to apply for postal voting, since a personal walk into the polling station is out of the question.

in Hanover, 70,000 out of 360,000 voters, i.e. around 20 percent, have already applied for postal voting. In Lüneburg, too, 12,400 postal voting documents were issued to 58,000 eligible voters up to the current date. In Oldenburg, 26,000 out of 130,000 entitled to vote have requested postal voting, which also makes a share of around 20 percent. 36,000 applications have already been processed in Osnabrück, and 2,500 people have already entered the urns. In Braunschweig, 40,000 postal voting documents were sent within just three days, while in Melle 8,000 out of 35,600 eligible voters and 6,500 of 39,000 entitled to vote have applied for.

important deadlines and procedures

The deadlines for applying for postal voting are shorter than usual this year. The application should be made as soon as possible to ensure that the postal voting documents arrive in good time. These must be handed over to the postal service provider by February 10, 2025. Voters can submit their application to the municipal authority of their main residence, either personally, in writing, by email or fax. Telephone applications are not permitted. Many municipalities also offer the possibility of an online application, often by a QR code on the election notification.

The personal submission of the application in the election office leads to an immediate issue of the postal voting documents. It is also important that the election letters must have been received by February 23, 2025, 6 p.m. Delayed election letters are not taken into account when counting. Deutsche Post also guarantees timely delivery of election letters, which will be thrown in by February 20, 2025. For further information on the postal voting, the Federal election manager also offers a WhatsApp Canal to inform about current information and deadlines.