Everything is fine – that was the tenor after the polling stations in Berlin closed at 6 p.m. on Sunday. Two days later it turns out that there was another breakdown. And it could have politically important implications for the bottom line. As was announced on Tuesday, 466 postal votes were subsequently received in the Lichtenberg district. In the question of whether the SPD or the Greens landed in second place behind the CDU, that could make a difference: the Social Democrats only have a lead of 105 second votes in Berlin.
“Red ballot letters were received that were not counted on Sunday,” reported state returning officer Stephan Bröchler at the press conference after the weekly Senate meeting. The district electoral office is now examining how the glitch came about.
Bröchler expects the result of the review later this week. The votes would of course be taken into account in the final election result. “We have no indication that there have been any further incidents,” said Bröchler. The state returning officer also told the Tagesspiegel that he cannot yet say whether this incident could even result in a Berlin-wide recount.
As Lichtenberg’s deputy district mayor Kevin Hönicke (SPD) reported, the 466 ballot letters were delivered by Deutsche Post on Monday. “They were forgotten to be handed over by the post office over the weekend,” he wrote on Twitter, thereby confirming a “mirror” report. “Since they were sent by the voters in good time, they must be included in the election results.”
Hönicke emphasized that this time the glitch was to be found in the post office and not, as was the case with the many errors in September 2021, in the Berlin election organization. “Unfortunately, the problem was caused by Deutsche Post and the electoral office is not to blame.” The votes should be included in the overall result on Wednesday. How the effect will be for the district and country “will then show”.
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