46,800 residents of Offenburg, including 4,100 first-time voters, will cast their ballots on Sunday, October 11, to elect a new mayor.
Lara Karcher, head of the Central Services and Elections Department, is working with her team to organize and coordinate the mayoral election, which is proceeding according to a detailed schedule.
The process kicked off with the publication of the job posting on July 24 in the Staatsanzeiger, the Badische Zeitung, and the Mittelbadische Presse, as well as on July 26 in the OFFENBLATT, the city’s official gazette, and on the City of Offenburg’s website. But as early as the beginning of July, Lara Karcher and her team began reaching out to potential election workers. A total of around 500 election workers are needed.
“Reaching that number won’t be a problem,” says the election trio—Lara Karcher, Stefanie Golz, and Dajana Gartner—as they look forward to the responses with confidence.
The application deadline for mayoral candidates is September 14. “Since the first day for filing nominations, July 25, fell on a Saturday, the order of candidates on the ballot will be determined by a random drawing by 7:30 a.m. on Monday,” Karcher explains. Starting September 14, election notifications will be mailed out. On September 15, the municipal election committee will then verify the candidates’ eligibility. This includes the 100 supporting signatures. Eligible to vote are German citizens as defined in Article 116 of the Basic Law, as well as nationals of another European Union member state who have reached the age of 16 by election day, have had their primary residence in Offenburg for at least three months, and are not barred from voting.
If the application documents are complete and in proper form, the candidates will be admitted to the election.
On September 21, the election desk at the Citizens’ Office will open (Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon). Starting immediately, voters can cast their ballots there, apply for absentee ballots, or pick them up in person.
The candidate presentation will take place on Tuesday, September 22, at 7:00 p.m. in the Oberrheinhalle and will be streamed online. If, according to
, no candidate achieves an absolute majority in the first round of voting, a runoff election will be held on October 25. The election results will not become final until the municipal election committee certifies the official final results.
Mayor Marco Steffens’ term ends on December 2; the new mayor will be sworn in on December 7 during a City Council session.
Questions regarding the mayoral election can be submitted by email to wahlen@offenburg.de or by phone at 0781/82-2060.
