What is allowed at the polling station, what makes a vote invalid? As with every election, disinformation and false claims about the German election 2025are also circulating online.
On the February 23 election day, false claims about the voting process itself were particularly prevalent, including accusations of vote rigging because ballot boxes were not fitted with a lock to the incorrect advice that voters needed to sign their ballot papers.
DW's Fact check team looked at some of the viral claims.
Claim: In a post viewed 150,000 times on X, voters for Germany's far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) were asked to sign their ballot papers: "Against election manipulation. Sign your ballot paper" is written in large letters on a graphic that was distributed by a satirical account. Other users also shared the graphic. The image resembles AfD election campaign advertisements. Other similar images are also circulating on other networks such as Reddit.
Fact check: False.
Signed ballot papers are invalid in Germany. Any form of handwritten addition, such as a signature or a comment, invalidates the ballot paper, even if the additonal actually intended to confirm the vote. The website of the Federal Returning Officer, which organizes and monitors Germany's Bundestag elections, makes it clear: "If a reference to the voter (for example by stating their name) is written on the ballot paper, it will be invalid because it jeopardizes the...
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