As more and more people take up the offer, more problems and anger arise among voters. This concerns the voting cards, because before the elections for the National Council quite a few were lost, ended up with the wrong people or were packed incorrectly.
He wanted to do everything right and ultimately couldn’t vote: Johann O. (52) from Vorchdorf applied for his voting card for the National Council elections in August. He did this via ID-Austria. “That worked wonderfully. I was sent a confirmation link that the application had been processed successfully. Three weeks later, another email followed saying that the voting card would now be sent within a few days,” he says. But then there was radio silence: the voting card did not appear.
Searching for the map
“When I asked the responsible election authority, I was told that my voting card had already been sent on September 3,” said the Vorchdorfer. At the post office he discovered that there was no tracking number and no yellow slip (from the postman) because he had already confirmed his identity with ID-Austria. The municipal office also assured that the card had been sent. But that did not arrive on Saturday and so Johann O. cannot exercise his right to vote.
Signed abroad
This is not an isolated incident: the card of a 31-year-old Ried woman was sent abroad and accidentally signed by an Austrian living abroad. So neither of them can choose.
In Steyr, a software error caused chaos with the voting cards, also in Frankenmarkt a couple received the wrong voting card and in some cases even the wrong envelopes were apparently used.
More and more applications
The head of the state electoral authority in Upper Austria, Magdalena Bigonski, confirmed several problems in an interview with the “Krone”. “A major challenge for communities is the increase in the number of voting cards. This is organizationally complex and was certainly not the case to this extent in the past. The biggest problem is that absentee ballots are not being cast, but that is out of our control,” she said.
To illustrate: In Vorchdorf, where Johann O.’s card did not appear, 760 eligible voters applied for a voting card. In total, approximately 5,900 people are allowed to vote there. And in Ried, where there are approximately 8,000 eligible voters, there are almost 2,000 people who want to vote by letter.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
