Helen Beringer is disappointed.

She would have liked to cast her vote in the Bundestag elections on Sunday.

But Beringer lives in London.

The 28-year-old political scientist missed the deadline to register in the electoral roll in her former place of residence, Berlin.

She is annoyed that she did not receive any information about the election process from the embassy.

“You have to find everything yourself, deadlines are not communicated correctly,” Beringer told the FAZ

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Like everyone else who does not have a place of residence in Germany, the young woman should have registered in the electoral roll of the municipality in which she was last registered by September 5th.

This can only be done by post with signed documents.

“Why doesn't that work digitally?” Asks Beringer.

Ballot letters by diplomatic mail

But not only Germans abroad have to struggle with bureaucratic hurdles.

Even Germans who only go abroad for a while do not always manage to cast their vote on time.

Constitutional lawyer Florian Meinel, however, considers it unproblematic from a legal point of view that Germans abroad have to put in a little more effort if they want to participate in the political processes in Germany.

The Federal Returning Officer is aware of the problems.

In particular, very long mail delivery times can mean that ballot papers do not arrive in Germany on time, says Georg Thiel.

In order to avoid the long mail routes, some embassies and consulates even offer to have the election documents sent to you by the much faster diplomatic courier service.

There is no information on how many Germans eligible to vote live abroad.

The association “Germans Abroad” estimates the number at 3.4 million.

But the turnout is far below that.

According to the Federal Returning Officer, almost 113,000 Germans abroad applied for entry in the electoral roll in the 2017 federal election.

This year there are about 126,500 people.

Complicated German suffrage

But why can't embassies and consulates just put up ballot boxes?

Other countries offer their citizens this option.

According to the federal returning officer, the legislature has examined this possibility.

But the effort would be disproportionately high.

"Among other things, all of the more than 220 missions abroad would have to have enough ballot papers ready for all 299 constituencies and also have up-to-date electoral rolls for all constituencies."

Meinel points out the peculiarity of the German right to vote with first and second votes.

Since it is also unlikely that more than a handful of people come from the same constituency, one could easily see who voted for what when counting in a diplomatic mission abroad.

That contradicts voting secrecy.

Federal Returning Officer Thiel can do little to change the existing electoral law.

That would be the task of the Bundestag.

He is therefore campaigning for Germans abroad to be able to apply for entry in the electoral roll digitally in the future.