Voting booklet

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The voting information are traditional, as well as to put in print today, online voting and the voters are available. The Swiss term voting booklet is also used in other, and not only German-speaking, countries - as a synonym for balanced, neutral, factual and understandable information on voting topics.

Switzerland

Voting books in Switzerland are the information brochures published by the public administration - the communes, the cantons, the federal government - on upcoming referendums , which are aimed at those entitled to vote. There are also other names for it, for example (voting) report, message, bulletin, explanations (from the Federal Council ) , information (e.g. canton Zurich ), magazine , memorial ( canton Glarus ) or newspaper (e.g. city Zurich ).

Today, all voting information for the referendums that take place every third month is available online. The printed versions - of the respective municipality, the respective canton and the federal government - will, however, still be sent to all eligible voters - via the municipal offices and together with the other voting documents (voting slips and voting slip and reply envelopes), for which the voting documents ( Election lists, ballot papers) come.

Making voting information available to those entitled to vote and to the public every quarter is one of the tasks of administrations ( public service ) in the communes , cantons and the federal government .

Confederation, cantons, municipalities

For every referendum, the Federal Chancellery publishes the voting information on the web and also as a voting brochure (also voting booklet , Swiss German also voting booklet, Bundesbüechli) , with the voting documents in full , explanations by the Federal Council , arguments of the supporters and opponents as well as the recommendations of the Federal Council and Parliament . They appear in all four national languages , including English online.

Factual information is presented - balanced, neutral, factually and understandably prepared - the initiative and referendum committees have their say, balanced. The Federal Council has the opportunity to comment on the drafts, but unlike the committees, it is not allowed to carry out propaganda.

The scope depends on the number of proposals to be voted on, the form always remains the same. The formally strict structure corresponds to the legal requirements. Each template is presented. In addition, there is a summary and a detailed text for each proposal, and finally there are the arguments of the opponents and those of the Federal Council, its voting recommendations and those of Parliament.

The production of the voting booklet “Explanations of the Federal Council” begins at least six months before the votes, and earlier in the case of complex proposals. The Federal Chancellery and the departments draft the editorial content, which will be reviewed and changed in subsequent meetings. The Federal Council ultimately decides on the definitive version, sometimes in heated discussions.

“Everyone should be able to understand the topic of an initiative or a referendum, even if they have not dealt with it before. The government has the constitutional mandate to present its views to the voters and otherwise only to provide explanations of the proposal that will be put to the vote. In addition, the brochure contains not only the opinion of the government, but also of the initiative or referendum committee, which can also express their opinion via other channels such as posters or with campaigns on the street. "
- Thomas Abegglen, brochure coordinator

The offices of the cantons and communes also issue such voting documents - for the joint voting dates, for the respective submissions from the communes and cantons.

Reception, discussion, criticism

For the majority of the electorate, the printed publication - voting newspapers of the municipalities and cantons, voting booklet of the federal government - is still an important source of information for the vote. For example, the federal voting booklet on votes at federal level with a circulation of around 5.2 million (as of 2013/14) to 5.4 million copies (as of 2015/16) - by far the “publication with the highest circulation in Switzerland”. According to Vox surveys , the degree of attention for complex topics is 90% and 60% for topics that are widely discussed in public. One of the other surveys shows:

Do you read the voting booklet?
  • Yes always
 41% |||||||||||||||||||
  • From time to time
 36% ||||||||||||||||||
  • Never
 23% ||||||||||||
A total of 5619 participants, 20min.ch survey, 2014

Daniel Kübler, political scientist at the University of Zurich , thinks that it is not about presenting a neutral view, it is about information requirements. Due to the recommendations of the Federal Council, the booklet is not neutral. However, the fact that the arguments of all others are presented ensures a balanced basis for decision-making in the official documents. Hermann Lei , SVP , says in his essay Truth content in the voting book that there were “several cases in the past” in which the texts in the voting book were clearly not objective. In some cases unrealistic figures were given, in other cases facts were covered up. It almost seems as if the Federal Council becomes more and more subjective, the more important a proposal seems to it. ”Alexandra Molinaro, easyvote , says of the“ complexity ”of the voting booklet that it“ requires too much basic knowledge ”, that it“ very much needed a lot of time to deal with the texts ”, but at the same time that the young people“ are neither too poorly intelligent, nor do they show less interest in politics than previous generations ”, they have“ fundamentally good resolutions ” concerns participation in votes, but "the complex documents often put off beginners in particular."

The role of the Federal Council is discussed from time to time. Like when the 2004 SPK of the National Council wanted to transfer this task to a new parliamentary body. However, the Council of States commission has vetoed this.

The voting information is also - especially as part of the voting campaign - the subject of criminal charges, complaints from party politicians and parties, as well as from initiators, or corrections and statements from interest representatives. The mistakes made are either corrected with flyers before they are sent, or afterwards in the media. As well, of course, on the web. Inadequate information is also discussed in the public and the media, and it is pointed out that exact figures are hardly possible for some of the submissions.

The polling publications are viewed by a few bloggers as "undemocratic influence and propaganda".

Trivia

The first edition of the voting booklet Explanations of the Federal Council appeared on December 4, 1977. Before that, however, explanatory texts on individual, particularly complex documents were published.

The external appearance has changed a lot since the first edition on December 4, 1977: Today's simple version in red has existed since 2004. Before that, the outline of Switzerland in numerous versions, which turned down to the Swiss cross, graced the title page.

The explanations of the Federal Council are printed in Merkur Zeitungsdruck AG in Langenthal , a family business with 45 employees (as of 2013).

The web pages also contain videos. Some cantons also offer the voting booklet as an audio file.

Germany

In Germany, the terms voting brochure and information booklet are generally used. In the five federal German states that provide for a voting brochure (as of 2012), they have the following titles: Announcement of the state government with official explanation (Bavaria), information in the form of an official communication (Berlin), information booklet (Bremen and Hamburg), voting brochure (Thuringia ), as Frank Rehmet, for the movement Mehr Demokratie , writes (as of 2012).

The Movement for More Democracy regards the voting brochure as (quotations, slightly edited) “an important procedural element of direct democracy, which all voters receive by post a few weeks before the referendum and which therefore plays a very important role in the opinion-forming and decision-making process of a referendum. "The author also writes about the requirements," formal dimensions of the voting brochure ":

  • "Extent - a balance between detailed information and not too much text (brief description of the topic, goals of the initiative, most important PRO arguments, most important CONTRA arguments, pro and con arguments to the same extent, costs and financial impact)";
  • "Form - as standard, the postal information in printed form to all voters (audio file, such as in California or in the canton of St. Gallen)";
  • "Languages ​​- voting brochure available on the Internet in several languages, for Germany in addition to German, especially English, Spanish, Italian, French, Russian and Turkish are conceivable, regional differences must be taken into account";
  • "Author - publisher usually the government, but Ireland shows, for example, that this can also be an independent body," Referendum Commission ", which is used to process information as neutrally as possible, as well as to convey arguments for and against";
  • "Several authors - government, other authors or institutions, such as parliament, government, supporters and opponents (statements and information - from the government, parliament with respective voting recommendations from the parliamentary groups, brief reasons for the parliamentary groups that approved and rejected and last but not least Statement of the initiators of a referendum) ".

In this presentation (as of 2012) the online version (still) falls short.

Actions, movements

At the end of May 2016, the Omnibus group for direct democracy brought 1000 voting books to, in this quarter (2/16), five federal bills - including the popular initiative unconditional basic income for which Omnibus is interested - to Berlin and they, with 109,000 petition signatures, " in a gift envelope and with a glass of democracy honey "handed over to all federal parliamentarians". The petition took Kersten Steinke , Chairman of the Petitions Committee, opposed.

Austria

In the nationwide referendum on Sunday, 20 January, on the question in 2013: "Are you for the introduction of a professional army and a paid voluntary social year" or "You are responsible for maintaining the compulsory military service and civilian service?", The province of Salzburg brought out a voting booklet - "hot off the press, handy, 28 pages thick and with the claim to be an important decision-making aid", with which "all eligible voters in the state of Salzburg should be informed about the advantages and disadvantages of conscription and the professional army." was available for download from the country's website and in printed form.

See also

Web links

  • official sources (also with videos, there also, often to mostly, PDFs of the printed versions):
  • unofficial sources, groups, associations that, of course, work correctly - examples:
    • easyvote.ch (de, fr, it) - "Increase the voter participation of 18 to 25 year olds to 40% in the long term ... strengthens ... political interest and civic duty ... encouragement of discussions .. . Dissemination of information on votes, elections and specific political issues ... simple and neutral voting and election information and political education reduces ... the material overload "
    • votez.ch (de) - Confederation / Cantons of Basel, Bern, Zurich / Abroad - "a service to simplify voting and promote participation among urban politicians"

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ PDF on: Referendums (de, fr, it, rm, en), Federal Chancellery , on admin.ch
  2. ↑ PDF on: Elections & Votes ( Memento from May 31, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (de), State Chancellery Canton Zurich, on zh.ch
  3. ↑ Overview | Glarner Landsgemeinde. In: www.landsgemeinde.gl.ch. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016 ; accessed on September 23, 2016 .
  4. ↑ PDF on: Elections and Voting (de), City Chancellery City of Zurich, on stadt-zuerich.ch
  5. ↑ ch.ch: Glossary A – Z ( Memento from May 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ (s) Popular vote ( referendum ) (en - also fr, it, rm) in admin.ch
  7. ↑ a b Christof Forster: Voting booklet: The bestseller from the federal administration - the voting booklet should be simple and clear so that it can be understood by the voters. The federal administration and the Federal Council each spend months filing - a workshop report , NZZ November 12, 2014
  8. ↑ a b c d Alexander Thoele: Bundesbüchlein: Operating Instructions for Direct Democracy ( Memento from June 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) , swissinfo January 17, 2016
  9. ↑ a b c d e f Meret Wittlin: Voting booklet : Almost everyone reads it, but hardly anyone understands it 20min.ch, 11/18/14
  10. ↑ According to various sources, the 2015/16 circulation was 5.4 million copies - in 2015, Switzerland had 5,260,043 voters (source: voters and voter participation since 1990 in: Voting - indicators: voter participation ( Memento from December 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) , Statistics Switzerland, at bfs.admin.ch)
  11. ↑ sda : Federal Council will write voting booklet , NZZ May 26, 2004
  12. ↑ Report because of the Valais voting booklet - A SVP councilor has filed a criminal complaint against the Valais State Council. He struggles with it against information in the voting book , Delp , Regionaljournal Bern Freiburg Wallis, SRF News 05/28/15
  13. ↑ Nadine Jürgensen: Criticism of the voting booklet - “CVP President Christophe Darbellay is dissatisfied. In the voting booklet, which will be sent to households from Monday, the Federal Council is trying to prove that families with low incomes do not benefit from the family initiative, says Darbellay, according to “ Sonntags-Blick ”. “He's cheating!” Says Darbellay “, NZZ from February 10, 2015; Nadine Jürgensen: CVP Family Initiative: Criticism of the voting booklet - The CVP speaks of cheating: The voting booklet is operated with wrong numbers. Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf's finance department is trying to influence the voters, NZZ from February 9, 2015
  14. ↑ Fabian Schäfer: [Trouble again with the voting booklet] - The Young SVP complains about the voting booklet for the naturalization initiative. She emphasizes that the initiative would touch criminals harder , Berner Zeitung 06.11.13
  15. ↑ sda : Family Policy : SVP submits voting complaint on the family item - The SVP accuses the Federal Council of hiding the financial consequences of the family item, voting on the people and the cantons on March 3rd. She filed a voting complaint on Monday , NZZ 29.1.13
  16. ↑ Claudia Schoch: «rip-offs» initiators plan to appeal against voting rights : Minder wants to use justice for his campaign - The initiators of the popular initiative «against rip-offs» want to take legal action against the Federal Council because of its information policy. The basis for a voting rights complaint has so far hardly been given , NZZ 7.1.13
  17. ↑ Roberto Bernhard: Voting book not tendentious: Federal Court justifies rejection of the SP complaint , Freiburger Nachrichten 10/26/01
  18. ↑ Simon Thönen: Information in the voting booklet that is too rosy? - Significantly more people can be transported on line 10 with trams - but not as many more as is stated in the voting booklet of Bern , Der Bund, August 28, 2014
  19. ↑ Davide Scruzzi: Before the Bern nuclear power plant vote: Criticism of the voting booklet - the nuclear power plant operators want to keep the option open for new plants at the locations of storing radioactive waste in a specially equipped hall until a deep repository goes into operation , NZZ 18.1 .11
  20. ↑ sda : Energy Tax Initiative: Federal Government Corrects Voting Booklet - A correction is enclosed with the federal voting booklet for the polls on March 8th: The federal government has specified the information on the effects of the “Energy instead of VAT” initiative on prices , NZZ 22. January 2015
  21. ↑ David Gadze: Error in the voting booklet - the city chancellery [ St. Gallen ] failed to invite the committee of the “Reithalle für die Kultur” initiative to make a statement before the voting documents were printed. She only noticed the mistake when the voting material was ready to be sent on September 4, 2014
  22. ↑ sda : Ecopop: Note on translation errors in the voting booklet - attention should be drawn to the translation error in the French version of the Ecopop initiative in the voting booklet , NZZ August 27, 2014
  23. ↑ The federal government makes mistakes in the voting booklet - the Federal Chancellery lists the druggists as supporters of the Epidemics Act. A mistake. 5.4 million voting books have already been printed. The error will not be corrected ... but the electronic version will be corrected , Tages-Anzeiger August 8, 2013
  24. ↑ Hansueli Schöchli: According to Finance Minister Widmer-Schlumpf, the voting booklet on corporate tax reform II was “not complete”: Federal Council admits negligence , NZZ March 15, 2011
  25. ↑ sda : Typo in the voting booklet , NZZ January 16, 2010
  26. ↑ Voting booklet with figures that are too optimistic. Baselbieter expressway H 2 becomes more expensive , NZZ June 14, 2007
  27. ↑ sda : Federal Votes: Federal Council does not provide any figures on the 1:12 initiative in voting booklet , Aargauer Zeitung 1.10.13
  28. ↑ so z. B. Markus Erb / Association “Citizens for Citizens” on Freie-meinung.ch (the exact source is missing, also in an earlier version of this page)
  29. ↑ Corsin Zander: Through the night with printer Davor Cvijanovic: If the printer is in place, the machine runs well - Davor Cvijanovic has only been Swiss for seven years. All the more intensely, he deals with Swiss democracy and the rights of workers. Not least because he prints the federal voting book four times a year , WOZ 22/13, May 30, 2013
  30. ↑ z. B. on admin.ch, from referendums (de, fr, it, rm, en)
  31. ↑ a b c d Frank Rehmet: Topics 21: The voting brochure . Practice and recommendations for informing voters before a referendum , Mehr Demokratie , 24.4.12
  32. ↑ Omnibus for direct democracy: 1000 voting books for the people's initiative unconditional basic income, which will be voted on in Switzerland on June 5th, we are now bringing to Berlin! ( Memento from June 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) , May 14, 2016, on wirwollenabstimmen.de / Basic Income vote ( Memento from June 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) on omnibus.org / Video (3 min.): 1000 Swiss voting books for Berlin , May 12, 2016, on vimeo.com
  33. ^ Bundesheer: Land Salzburg presented new voting booklet, salzburg24.at November 20, 2012
  34. ↑ What is easyvote? ( Memento from May 31, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) on easyvote.ch
  35. ↑ What is Votez? on votez.ch (Home, below)