Dozens of postal ballots were tampered with in two Dresden polling stations during the Saxony state election, raising concerns about potential voter fraud.
The police in Dresden are investigating suspected election fraud following irregularities discovered during the counting of postal votes in the recent Saxony state election. The incident has raised questions about the integrity of the voting process in at least two Dresden constituencies.
Manipulation of postal ballots
According to a police statement on Tuesday, dozens of manipulated ballots were found during the count of postal votes. Unknown individuals had covered the original marks made by postal voters and instead placed crosses next to the name of the far-right Free Saxons party. Approximately 100 ballots are believed to have been affected by this manipulation.
The suspicious postal votes were counted in two polling stations set up at the Bürgerwiese Gymnasium and the Vocational School Center for Electrical Engineering in Dresden. The irregularities were identified in the latter location.
Markus Blocher, Dresden’s election officer, told the “Sächsische Zeitung” on Monday, “I only learned about these allegations today. We will investigate these leads.” A spokesperson for the city of Dresden confirmed the suspicions, stating that the irregularities concern electoral districts 36011 and 36012 in Langebrück, northern Dresden. Notably, the Free Saxons performed unusually well in district 36012, receiving 59 direct votes and 60 list votes, each accounting for 10.2% of the total.
Investigation and potential consequences
The suspected election fraud will be investigated during the election review scheduled for September 5, 2024, in the election committee. Blocher suggested that the affected votes might be declared invalid.
It appears that the manipulated ballots arrived at the postal voting station already tampered with. One possible explanation is that the ballots originated from central facilities such as nursing homes, where they may have been collected and then altered.
The Free Saxons party, which received 2.2% of the votes statewide and 0.8% in Dresden, is classified as a right-wing extremist group by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
Correction of election results
Adding to the controversy, the Saxony state election officer had to correct the election results on Monday due to a software error. This correction resulted in the Greens and SPD each gaining one seat, while the CDU and AfD each lost one seat.
The recalculation caused the AfD to lose its blocking minority in the state parliament. Despite the changes, the previous coalition of CDU, Greens, and SPD still lacks a majority in the new parliament.
In the corrected results, the CDU holds 41 seats, the AfD 40, BSW 15, SPD 10, Greens 7, Left Party 6, and Free Voters 1, totaling 120 seats in the Saxon parliament.
The final vote percentages show the CDU at 31.9%, AfD at 30.6%, BSW at 11.8%, SPD at 7.3%, Greens at 5.1%, Left Party at 4.5%, and FDP failing to enter parliament with just 0.9% of the votes.
