In Frankfurt, the organization of the referendum on the deselection of Lord Mayor Peter Feldmann (SPD) is already underway a good ten weeks before the November date.
"The current preparations are going according to plan, even if the organization represents a considerable additional effort," said Stefan Köster from the responsible citizens' office for statistics and elections.
For example, 376 voting rooms would have to be rented and equipped with ballot boxes and materials for equipping the electoral boards.
In addition, the search for 4,600 volunteer election workers, including around 1,200 letter voting officers, is now beginning.
According to the information, citizens entitled to vote will probably find their voting notifications in their mailboxes from the end of September.
After the controversial mayor had not accepted the deselection by the city councillors, Frankfurt must now decide on Feldmann's future.
The referendum is scheduled to take place on November 6th.
The trial against Feldmann begins in October. The 63-year-old politician is accused of accepting an advantage.
Almost all parties in Römer are calling for his resignation, including the SPD.
In the referendum, 30 percent of those eligible to vote must decide against Feldmann.
In view of the low voter turnout for municipal decisions, the deselection could fail because of this requirement.
In the runoff election and Feldmann's re-election in 2018, only 30.2 percent of those eligible to vote cast their votes.
Feldmann had offered to accept a vote at the end of January 2023.
The city councilors did not want to wait that long and initiated a voting procedure in July.
Feldmann then had a week to accept the vote, which did not happen.
The citizens' vote that is now pending will cost the taxpayer dearly.
For example, the FDP had estimated the costs at 1.6 million euros.