Poll workers  Volunteer Work for Democracy

On 23 February 2025, Germany will elect a new Bundestag. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers will ensure that the election is democratic and free. Who are these poll workers and what exactly is their job?

For most citizens of a democratic country, an election, such as the new election to the German Bundestag on 23 February 2025, is the moment when they can exert the greatest influence on politics, the high point of their political participation, so to speak. But for the independent electoral bodies that organise elections in Germany, an election day is above all one thing: a mammoth organisational task.

Helping Hands

According to the Federal Statistical Office, at least 59.2 million people will be called to vote in the 2025 Bundestag elections. Many helping hands are needed so that all these people can cast their vote and the result of the election is known on the same evening. Anyone who has ever voted knows these people. They hand out ballot papers, tick names off the electoral roll or cover the ballot box with a piece of paper until the vote can be cast. And they count the postal votes that grow from election to election. These people, 650,000 of whom are deployed throughout Germany during a Bundestag election, are called poll workers. They work on a voluntary basis, which means they only receive an expense allowance for their services, the so-called “refreshment allowance”.

As a rule, poll workers are volunteers. However, if not enough volunteers come forward, the constituencies can also oblige eligible voters to take on the voluntary work. This call can only be refused in certain cases.

Tasks Around the Polling station

There are many different tasks for poll workers on polling day. Johanna Weinz, who has been an poll worker several times since the first election in which she was able to cast a vote, is already familiar with many of these tasks. In the 2019 European elections, she stood outside a polling station in Stuttgart and asked voters for their vote for a survey. It was an interesting experience for the then twenty-year-old. “It was great to talk to people,” she recalls. However, it didn't give her a comprehensive look behind the scenes of the election, as Johanna Weinz had hoped for with her work as a poll worker.

This then worked at the next election, the state election in Baden-Württemberg in 2021, where Weinz helped count the postal ballot papers. A very time-consuming process, as she knows to this day, because the counting is carried out several times and the poll workers check each other. Johanna Weinz particularly remembers some situations in which the poll workers voted on whether individual votes should count: “There was a couple who had mixed up the ballot papers in the envelopes.” In this case, she decided with her vote that both ballot papers should count.

Weinz worked directly at the polling station for the European elections in 2024. This is the place where poll workers come into particular contact with voters. Weinz remembers that some voters were dissatisfied with the political situation and expressed their frustration at the polling station. Many wanted to talk to her and the other helpers. “That's very difficult because, on the one hand, I think it's nice that people are looking for dialogue and, on the other hand, I can't speak my mind out loud,” says Weinz. She emphasises that almost all of the voters, including those in need of information, were very nice and many thanked the volunteers for their work. “It's so exciting to see how the neighbourhood comes together and interacts on this day,” says Johanna Weinz happily. For her, her work as a poll worker has been enriching. She would like to help out again in this general election.

How Do You Become a Poll Worker?

Many cities and municipalities have already signed up enough volunteers for the Bundestag elections on 23 February, such as in Berlin, where over 36,000 people – volunteers, municipal employees and civil servants – will be working on election day. It may still be worth asking the relevant electoral office. Otherwise, the next election is sure to come – and in many places you can already register for future elections on the relevant portals.

By the way: One very special constituency has already found all of its poll workers. It is the smallest constituency in Germany, Hallig Gröde in Schleswig-Holstein. Only ten people live there, so at least half of them will have to help out on election day. The votes are likely to be counted there the fastest in Germany.
 

January 2025