How to Vote!
City Council and Lord Mayor Elections on 16 March 2014
Your 50 votes for the Green List!
Total votes decide the outcome
The total number of votes determines how many seats a list receives on the city council.
Votes for individual candidates only determine their ranking within that list.
Simply mark the list
Accept our list unchanged by marking just one cross at the top next to “GRÜNE/GL”.
All candidates on the list automatically receive one vote each.
Crossing out individual candidates
Even with a list vote, you may strike out individual candidates - those candidates will not receive a vote.
However, if any votes remain undistributed at the end of the list, those votes expire.
Distributing votes individually
A single candidate may receive up to three votes (accumulating / “kumulieren”).
Enter the desired number of votes—or a single cross (one vote)—in the box next to their name.
You may distribute votes across different lists (mixing / “panaschieren”).
Be careful: if you assign too many votes, the entire ballot becomes invalid.
Don’t waste votes
Assign some votes directly to individuals, and distribute the remaining votes with a list cross.
Unused votes are then distributed automatically in descending order.
Marking a list
You may combine all methods:
- mark a list,
- distribute individual votes,
- cross out candidates.
Just make sure you do not exceed 50 votes in total.
Lord Mayor Election
The Lord Mayor is elected directly. You have exactly one vote to mark the candidate of your choice.
The person who receives more than half of all votes wins.
If no candidate achieves this, a runoff takes place two weeks later between the two candidates with the most votes.