The election is on 2 March 2025. The day of the week is Sunday. You can vote at a polling station from 08:00 to 18:00.

If you can’t go to vote yourself, you can vote earlier by post. More information can be found under: "How do postal votes work?".

NOTE:

There’s another important election before this one. The Federal Election (Bundestagswahl) takes place on 23 February. That’s on the Sunday before. There’s a lot about it on the news. Everyone in Germany who’s eligible to vote can take part. 

Do you need help or have you got questions? Then ring the phone number 115 or send an email to kontakt@bk.hamburg.de (Subject: Frage zur Bürgerschaftswahl Hamburg).

Or you can go to the website of the Hamburg Returning Officer (Landeswahlleiter).

Have you got German nationality?

Will you be at least 16 years old on election day?

Have you lived in Hamburg for at least three months?

If you can say yes to all these questions, you can vote in the Bürgerschaft elections.

Do you need help or have you got questions? Then ring the phone number 115 or send an email to kontakt@bk.hamburg.de (Subject: Frage zur Bürgerschaftswahl Hamburg).

Or you can go to the website of the Hamburg Returning Officer (Landeswahlleiter).

By 9 February 2025 you’ll get a letter that includes your polling card. Everyone who can vote will get one. It includes all the important information about the election.

You can vote in three ways:

1. You can go to a polling station on 2 March. There you’ll get a ballot paper and you’ll vote in a polling booth. The people in the polling station will help you if you need. 
   The election is on Sunday, 2 March 2025 from 08:00 to 18:00. Bring your polling card and a valid identity card or passport with you. 
2. You can also vote earlier from home by post. To get the papers, you need to fill in a form. You can find the form in the letter with your polling card. The form’s also on the internet at https:\\briefwahl.hamburg.de.
3. You can vote before 2 March 2025 in Hamburg city centre. Bring a valid identity card or passport with you. The central postal voting station is at Gerhart-Hauptmann-Platz next to Mönckebergstraße. Just drop in. You can also ask questions about the election here. 

Opening hours: 

• Monday to Friday, 11:00 to 19:00 
• Saturday, 10:00 to 18:00.

Except: 

• Friday, 21 and 28 February 2025, 11:00 to 15:00 
• Saturday, 22 February and 1 March: closed

Important: 

At the election, it’s your decision alone who you vote for. Your vote is secret. No one is allowed to see who you vote for. 

What am I voting for at the Bürgerschaft election?

For the Bürgerschaft election, you’ll get two ballot papers: 

• a yellow ballot paper with the party lists. The names of the candidates for the whole of Hamburg are on it.
• a red ballot paper with the lists for your constituency (electoral district). The names of the people who want to be elected in your constituency are on it.

You can use the yellow ballot paper for the Hamburg list to vote for parties or people. You will be deciding how many seats each party will get in the Hamburg Parliament and the order in which the candidates from the parties get elected to the parliament.

You’ve got 5 votes on the yellow ballot paper. You can give your 5 votes 
to a whole party list
to one candidate
to different candidates
or split them between different candidates and different parties.

You can use the red ballot paper for your constituency to decide which candidates will represent your electoral district in the Hamburg Parliament. You can’t vote for parties here. You can only vote for people.
You’ve got 5 votes on the red ballot paper. You can give your 5 votes 
to one candidate
or split them between different candidates.

It’s very important that you don’t make more than 5 crosses on one ballot paper. Otherwise your vote will not be valid. 

Do you want to look at the ballot papers before the election?

Do you need help or have you got questions? Then ring the phone number 115 or send an email to kontakt@bk.hamburg.de (Subject: Frage zur Bürgerschaftswahl Hamburg).

Or you can go to the website of the Hamburg Returning Officer (Landeswahlleiter).

By 9 February 2025 you’ll get a letter that includes your polling card. Everyone who can vote will get one. It includes all the important information about the election. It will tell you your constituency and your polling station. It’s not a problem if you lose your polling card. You just need to take your identity card or passport with you to the polling station. You can find your polling station on the internet using the polling station finder: https://www.hamburg.de/service/info/111172427/n0/

Do you want to ask more questions? 

Then you can go to your electoral office. At your electoral office you can also vote before 2 March 2025 and get help. 

You can find your electoral office on the internet or by phoning 115.

I haven’t received my polling card 

Is it after 9 February 2025? And you still haven’t had your polling card? Ask at your electoral office.

If you don’t have time on 2 March or if you can’t go to vote, you can get a postal vote. 
If you want a postal vote, you’ll have to fill in a form.  

There’s also an application form on the internet at https:\\briefwahl.hamburg.de. 

Then you’ll get another letter that contains your ballot paper. You can fill this in in your own time and post it in a letter box.

Send your ballot paper in an envelope without a stamp on it. It mustn’t arrive too late. It must arrive at the address on the red envelope no later than 18:00 on 2 March 2025. Otherwise your vote will not be valid. You can also post the envelope in the letter box at your District Council Offices (Bezirksamt). The address is on the red envelope with your ballot papers.

You can also collect your ballot paper yourself from your electoral office. You can also vote there immediately. That’s possible until 15:00 on 2 March.

You can find your electoral office on the internet or by phoning 115.

You make decisions yourself about your daily life: This is what I’m going to do, and that’s how things should be. But when lots of people make decisions together, it’s more difficult. 

After all, many people want different things. At elections, all the things people want are important. If you vote, you can be part of the decision. That’s why we have politicians. They represent you and stand up for you and what you want. At the election, you can decide who should make policy on your behalf.

The Bürgerschaft election is about your city of Hamburg.

The Hamburg Parliament

Hamburg is divided into constituencies (electoral districts). Politicians are elected from each constituency. You can vote in the constituency where you live. At the election, you decide which candidates from your neighbourhood should represent you. The parliament makes decisions about the underground and buses, the police, kindergartens and street cleaning, for example.

At the election in Hamburg you can decide between different people and parties. 
What those parties or people want is in their party manifestos (policy programmes). Manifestos are often available in plain language. There’s information about the people and parties on the internet, on the radio and TV and in the newspapers.

You can find all the politicians for your constituency on the sample ballot papers. The parties and their candidates are also on the internet. You can search for their websites. Often the parties have information stands. Here members of the public can ask questions and get information. That helps them decide who they want to vote for. 

The Wahl-O-Mat is a special help. It is an internet tool to help you decide. The Wahl-O-Mat asks you lots of questions. You then choose the answers you agree with. 

At the end the Wahl-O-Mat shows you the parties that fit best with your answers.