Berlin’s State Election Director, Stephan Bröchler, is calling for a fundamental reform of the electoral law, partly due to the exclusion of tens of thousands of German expatriates from the election. The early election date brings significant problems, Bröchler told the T-Online news portal and he will likely take his complaints to the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe. “If we had waited a bit longer, until March, we wouldn’t have these problems now” he said. “As the state election director, I have to accept the decision, as it is.” The current rules for organizing new elections are, however, outdated, according to Bröchler. “The time for change is ripe.”
Bröchler particularly criticized the statutory 60-day period for organizing a snap election. “With regard to the legally prescribed 60-day period to organize a snap election, I definitely see a need for action” he said. This provision dates back to the Reich Constitution of 1871 and is no longer up to date, Bröchler argued. “At the time, there was no postal voting or women’s right to vote” he said. “We are working with a rule from yesterday.”
Bröchler advocates for an extension to 90 days to allow for better preparation. “From the perspective of the election organization, it’s very worthwhile to think about moving away from these 60 days” he said. The increasing number of postal voters must also be taken into account, he added. “We are now going in the direction of a 50 percent postal voting participation rate” he said. “Therefore, we must think about new forms of voting and how to make it happen.”
Bröchler sees the introduction of e-voting as debatable, but still sees some security issues. “The organization of an election is the anchor of democracy” he said. The legislature still favors the in-person ballot, but the Constitutional Court must reevaluate the election organization in light of changing voting habits, he argued. The technical challenges of digital voting, however, are still not resolved, he said. “But if this problem is solved, there is nothing against creating the corresponding digital infrastructure for an election – we don’t even have that yet.