German embassies were exceptionally offering express courier services for people to drop off their ballots — the cutoff in Brussels was 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20.
“It would make voting abroad incredibly easier if it could be carried out via embassies,” said Fabian Schmidt, a political economist living in Brussels and German citizen who applied for, but did not receive, an absentee ballot in time.
“Votes should be online,” said Caroline Peters, a German living in Flanders north of Brussels. She did receive her ballot by mail with enough time to send it back, but still advocated the digital option. “It works and goes fast and does not cost anything,” she said.
Although some 4 million Germans live abroad, a far smaller number are eligible voters and have registered to vote by mail. German daily Zeit reported record-high interest in voting by mail during this contentious election, with some 210,000 citizens applying to vote outside of Germany.
But for those who never saw ballots, their vote simply won’t count.
“My experience: Frustration,” said Reinhard Boest, an editor with the website Belgieninfo.net in Brussels. He applied for voting by mail in November and never received his ballot. “Expat Germans apparently don’t matter in politics,” he concluded.