Eleven days until the election

Styria is heading for a record number of polling cards

(Bild: APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH)

A new National Council will be elected in eleven days - and tens of thousands of Styrians have already made their decision. The number of polling cards applied for is already higher than that of the EU elections in June and is likely to rise significantly.

Around 172,000 polling cards have been issued so far, the head of the provincial electoral authority, Wolfgang Wlattnig, confirmed to the "Steirerkrone" newspaper. By way of comparison, around 153,000 had been issued by election day for the EU elections. Voting cards can still be applied for until next Friday, so there are likely to be many more.

It is not possible to say how many Styrians have already officially cast their ballot at this stage due to the different ways of using a polling card. In addition to the traditional way of going to the post office, it is also possible to go to the polling station with a polling card on September 29.

In any case, the trend towards voting away from the traditional ballot box is unbroken and the rate has been rising for years. "The polling cards have been very well received, we are heading for a record number this time," reports Wlattnig.

New: faster and more accurate counting
The counting process is new following an amendment to the law, which Wlattnig believes will bring major advantages. All polling cards received by next Friday will be counted in the respective municipalities and district electoral authorities. Previously, the district authorities were responsible. This ensures that a reliable result will be available on the evening of the election on September 29, which can already be allocated to the individual municipalities. According to Wlattnig, this should already be "very close to the final result".

There should also be enough volunteers for election day, the famous assessors. There has been no feedback that counting committees could not be staffed and therefore could not make decisions.

Polling card boom does not necessarily mean high voter turnout
Wlattnig points out that the boom in polling cards cannot be applied 1:1 to voter turnout, "the polling card trend alone does not tell us that". In the last National Council election in 2019, Styria was in line with the Austrian average at around 75 percent. This is a strong figure by international standards. From Wlattnig's point of view, there is nothing to prevent a similarly high turnout this time.