Fact check: False claims on German election debunked

What is allowed at the polling station, what makes a vote invalid? As with every election, disinformation and false claims about the German election 2025are also circulating online.

On the February 23 election day, false claims about the voting process itself were particularly prevalent, including accusations of vote rigging because ballot boxes were not fitted with a lock to the incorrect advice that voters needed to sign their ballot papers.

DW's Fact check team looked at some of the viral claims.

Do signatures make ballots invalid?

Claim: In a post viewed 150,000 times on X, voters for Germany's far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) were asked to sign their ballot papers: "Against election manipulation. Sign your ballot paper" is written in large letters on a graphic that was distributed by a satirical account. Other users also shared the graphic. The image resembles AfD election campaign advertisements. Other similar images are also circulating on other networks such as Reddit.

Fact check: False.

Signed ballot papers are invalid in Germany. Any form of handwritten addition, such as a signature or a comment, invalidates the ballot paper, even if the additonal actually intended to confirm the vote. The website of the Federal Returning Officer, which organizes and monitors Germany's Bundestag elections, makes it clear: "If a reference to the voter (for example by stating their name) is written on the ballot paper, it will be invalid because it jeopardizes the secrecy of the ballot." This is regulated in section 39 of the Federal Elections Act: "Votes are invalid if the ballot paper contains an addition or reservation." Any calls to sign ballot papers are therefore requests to invalidate a vote.

What is also striking about the post on X is that it calls for people to vote on February 24 — which is one day after the actual federal election on February 23. 

Can you use pencil to vote in Germany?

Claim: Some users on social media claim that you are not allowed to use a pencil to cast your vote in Germany as the vote could be manipulated, i.e., erased. This user says, "Don't forget your ballpoint pen. Don't make a cross if there is a pencil in the polling booth and insist on a ballpoint pen." Or this one shared a claim, "Just voted. Pencil in the polling booth? I brought my own ballpoint pen." Or here the user even seems to suggest that polling booths have pencils on purpose, "They really think of everything. ... There has to be a pen in the polling booth and no pencil ..."

There seems to be confusion in general also whether it is allowed to use an erasable pencil at all, as can be seen in the comment section of this TikTok video.

Fact check: False.

The Federal Election Code in Section 50does not specify the type of pen or pencil that should be used to fill in the ballot paper. It merely states that a pen should be available in the polling booth. 

The Federal Returning Officer specifies this: Ballpoint pens, felt-tip pens, ink pens and pencils all count as writing pens — the latter do not have to be document-proof either. If you still prefer to bring your own pen, you should make sure that no ink seeps through the paper when folding the ballot paper, as otherwise it may no longer be possible to clearly see where the cross was placed, and the ballot might then be declared invalid.

The individual election committees are made up of members from a wide range of parties, and the counting of the votes cast is public, so manipulation by third parties is ruled out.

However, one thing that does violate the Federal Election Code in these posts is the photos of marked ballot papers attached to the claims.

"No photographs or films may be taken in the polling booth," states Section 56 of the Federal Election Code, which regulates the voting process. It is also not permitted to show others who you have voted for on your ballot.

Both violate the secrecy of the ballot.

In Germany, casting a vote in secret is not only permitted but actually mandatory.

The electoral board, i.e. the person who monitors the correct conduct of the election in a polling station, is even obliged to reject voters who do not conceal their vote during the election process.

This includes — also in the case of postal voting — photographing or showing completed ballot papers. If, for example, a ballot paper is folded in the polling station in such a way that the crosses are visible, it may not be cast in the ballot box. However, if such a ballot paper does end up in the ballot box, it can no longer be invalidated.

Do ballot boxes have to be locked in Germany?

Claim: Users on social media are claiming that the election result in Germany is being manipulated because some ballot boxes don't have locks on them. This user on X wrote, "If you want to know why the same people are always in power in Germany. Ballot box in Constituency 84, district 10, polling station 324. According to the election board, the Federal Returning Officer does not consider it necessary to seal the ballot boxes." Similar claims were made by other users, like here, "This would allow them to be opened and all ballot papers could be replaced by others, as the number of voters cast is recorded."

Fact check: False.

According to the German Federal Election Code section 51, "The ballot box must be provided with a lid. ... It must be closeable." However, it does not specify that it needs to be locked. The Federal Returning Officer also published similar statements on a website on disinformation about the German parliamentary elections.

Similar allegations circulated at the last German federal election, held in 2021.

Back then, a Federal Returning Officer spokesperson told AFP news agency: "How it is closed is not specified. There does not have to be a lock on it or a seal." 

The Federal Returning Officer also confirmed to DWin 2021 that the ballot boxes must be closed; how is not legally stipulated.

However, the ballot papers cannot simply be exchanged, as Section 54 of the Federal Electoral Regulations stipulates that anyone may remain in the polling station from the opening of the polling station until the "determination and establishment of the election result”, i.e. until the end of the count.

Therefore, Every German citizen has the right to act as an election observer to ensure no manipulation.

Exclusion of an election observer in Bavaria? 

Claim: On Sunday, a TikTok video by a Bavarian user at a polling station near Bamberg was viewed around 900,000 times. She wanted to take part there as an election observer. “I don't think this is right. Because they told me that they would close the polling station at 6 p.m., open the ballot box, prepare everything and then bring the people back in. That's not right, is it?" said the user, who also added the hashtags 'fraud' and ‘scandal’ to the video. 

DW fact check: Misleading

Our fact check colleagues from BR24 #Faktenfuchs talked to the TikTok user via phone and learned it was a polling station in Seigendorf. She described in the video that when asked at the polling station in the afternoon, she was told that election observers had to leave the room when the polling station closed at 6 pm. The ballot box would then be opened and everything prepared and only then would the election observers be allowed to re-enter the room. This alleged temporary exclusion of election observers caused numerous reactions online, with thousands of users commenting on her video.

In response to a #Faktenfuchs inquiry, the election official of the municipality of Hirschaid wrote via email that he had 'not heard of any such incident' from the polling station itself. Election workers are instructed in training that the elections and the counting are public. According to the woman herself, she was present for the count from 6 p.m. onwards. In a second video published later that evening, she explains that everything went smoothly and that the election observers were allowed to remain in the polling station the entire time - even when the ballot box was opened. However, this video only achieved a fraction of the reach of the first video on Sunday evening. 

In response to a #Faktenfuchs query, the Federal Returning Officer wrote that only the casting of votes was secret. All other key steps in the voting process are public and can be observed. The end of the voting period per Section 60 of the Federal Election Code does not influence this.

Anna Bakovic, Georg Braunschweig, Karla Sophie Kretz, Andreas Wißkirchen and Claudia Dehn contributed to this fact check.

Edited by: Uta Steinwehr

This article is a collaborative project between ARD-faktenfinder, BR24 #Faktenfuchs and DW Fact check.

This article has been updated to include another claim.