Polling station
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The polling station or voting room is the public place where an election is held. If a referendum or referendum is held, one speaks instead of the voting hall or voting room . It is a room that is usually located in a public building ( school or town hall ).
description
According to democratic principles, the polling station must be a place free and pacified for election advertising and allow the voter to make a secret decision in a voting booth . Nobody may be prevented from entering the polling station and, as an observer, from following the circumstances of the election process and the public counting of votes (the latter is not applicable when using electronic voting machines ). However, the members of the electoral board have the right and the duty to initiate and enforce measures against disruptions to voting activities, if necessary with the help of the police.
In the case of local, regional, Bundestag or European elections, all citizens who are entitled to vote receive a notification in advance by post, in which the polling station and room provided for the respective citizen is specified.
Germany
In Germany , polling and voting stations are often set up in schools or in the parish rooms of churches, as these are not used on Sundays when all elections and votes take place in Germany. These are opened on the day of the election or voting, and voting is usually possible between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. After the polling stations are closed, the votes cast there will be counted on site.
As an alternative to using the polling station or voting station, it is also possible to cast a vote by postal vote , which must be requested.
Switzerland
Since in Switzerland there are usually four votes a year and public funds are to be used sparingly, voting and polling stations in Switzerland are usually very simple. One or more urns are often on the floor or on a table. The members of the electoral office stand next to it. Sometimes there is a table to stamp voting lists; elsewhere this is done directly on the edge of the urn. In addition, the voters will receive the voting material in advance by post so that they can fill in their voting or ballot papers at home.
In Switzerland , the number and opening times of the voting and polling stations, which are still abundant, have been reduced as more and more voters vote or vote by post. Depending on the local situation, they are often in the entrance area of school, council or community buildings , train stations . Usually, in the course of the week before the election or voting, voting or voting can also take place at the municipal office or the neighborhood office.
United States
In some regions of the United States of America, it is possible to vote using 'drive-thru voting'. Here, the voter casts the vote from a vehicle without having to leave it. In some cases, the car counters of fast-food restaurants are used for this, in which they are equipped with staff , ballot boxes or voting machines .
