As the results of the German Election have become public, one thing is clear: just as it was in the United States, the German people have experienced a massive shift in power from the dominant, more conservative (by German standards, not ours) Christian-Democratic Union under Armin Laschet who was to replace the outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel to the far-left Social-Democrats under Olaf Scholz. Also just as it was in the US, the election has been marred by mail-in voting and massive irregularities at polling stations, particularly those in Berlin.
JUST IN – Germany: State election administration to appeal #Berlin election. Every 11th polling station in the federal state had irregularities.
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) October 14, 2021
German News Network DieWelt wrote,
“Chaotic scenes and embarrassing irregularities at Berlin’s ballot stations during last month’s general election have shaken confidence in Germany’s election system, while providing ammunition for those who question the German capital’s efficiency. On Thursday, October 14, final election results will be published, giving the green light for what are expected to be several legal challenges.”
Just as in the US, the panic surrounding COVID19 resulted in governments opting to expand mail-in voting without requiring cause as was previously typical in both countries. Subsequently, Mail-in voting jumped from 28.6% to an expected 50% in the 2021 ballot once the dust has settled.
The Same Story, The Left ‘Wins’ With “Chaotic Scenes And Embarrising Irregularities” Of Unlimited Mail-In Voting
Leaders of the far more conservative AfD (Alternative for Germany) party raised similar objections to the postal voting at those raised by Republicans here in the US with party leaders like Stephan Brandner, Member of the Bundestag for Thuringia Tweeted,
“The AfD member of the Bundestag and ex-chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee, Stephan Brandner …: ‘Postal votes allow a high degree of manipulation. In previous elections, the results of postal votes differed significantly from those of attendance. ‘”
„Der AfD-Bundestagsabgeordnete und Ex-Vorsitzende des Rechtsausschusses, Stephan Brandner…: ‚Briefwahlen ermöglichen ein hohes Maß an Manipulation. Bereits bei vergangenen Wahlen wichen die Ergebnisse der Briefwahl signifikant von denen der Präsenz ab.‘“ https://t.co/FnhEJge8ob
— 🇩🇪 Stephan Brandner 🇩🇪 (@StBrandner) January 14, 2021
AfD MP Robert Farle also objected to the wide-scale fraud possible with unlimited mail-in voting: “This whole pandemic is a hoax.” The new regulations on postal voting are only there “in order to carry out the largest electoral fraud in this country in the next year.” Farle explains to the ARD magazine Kontraste : “At which points this fraud will occur, we will see on election day.”
AfD MP Torgen Braga also for Thuringia state said, “The presidential election in America is proof of how problematic a postal vote can be. Irregularities crop up again and again,” and concluded: “That it is no coincidence that a postal vote is to be introduced right now. ”
Even German Mainstream Media Had To Admit The Flaws
While in Germany, the mainstream media is not quite as far “in-the-bag” for the SDP as they are here in the US for the Democrats, the fact that large outlets like DieWelt are even addressing the serious concerns about the election’s integrity is raising eyebrows.
“I was, probably like everyone else, fairly horrified and surprised, because there have never been mistakes and neglect to this extent in our elections — at least I can’t remember anything like this,” Christian Pestalozza, a member of Berlin state’s ethics commission and law professor at the city’s Free University told DieWelt.
“It’s extremely serious — this is the most important action with which we can influence the composition of professional politics. And we have a right to demand that no mistakes are made. Such an accumulation of mistakes is disastrous.”
DieWelt also found,
- “The confusion appeared to lead to several violations of electoral rules: There were reports that volunteers offered to allow people in if they didn’t mind only voting in the federal elections, or even turned voters away though they were in line at the cutoff time of 6 p.m., when stations officially closed.”
- “In around 100 of Berlin’s 2,245 polling stations, Geisel said, there had been “events that have to be investigated,”
- “The problem stemmed from the fact that more people were eligible to vote in the local district elections than in the other elections: not just German citizens over the age of 18, but also EU citizens over the age of 16. And yet, mail-in ballots for all three elections had to be put in a single envelope. ”
- “This meant it was possible for those over the age of 18 to apply for a mail-in ballot, but then pass on their ballot papers to EU citizens over the age of 16 who had also applied for mail-in ballots and could put the papers into their own envelope. Meanwhile, the person over the age of 18 would not vote by mail at all, but would simply go and vote on election day. “
- “[A]nother loophole — allowing German nationals living outside Germany to vote in local elections using the same trick — was not closed in time.”
Universal mail-in voting opens the door for massive fraud, and at minimum a loss of confidence from the voters. The only way for representative governments to avoid “even the appearance of impropriety” as is necessary for a free people to govern themselves is for the confidence in safe, secure, accurate elections to be absolute. There may be a margin for error in popularity polls, but there can be no margin for error in the actual elections.
