"You want to have a say? Then you have to vote too!"

On 9 June this year, the annual university elections took place again. At a university with over 28,000 eligible voters among students and teaching staff, spread across the entire city, these represent a considerable logistical challenge for the Electoral Office responsible for coordination. We spoke with Stefan Wettengel, head of the Electoral Office, about the steps required to ensure the elections run smoothly, the problem of low voter turnout, and possible proposals to increase it. The interview was conducted ahead of this year's university election.

Sprachrohr: What does the Electoral Office do for the university? 

Wettengel: The Electoral Office is part of the Legal Affairs and Electoral Office department. The Electoral Office part is me. I am responsible for the complete organisation and conduct of university elections, the DGF election for example, for committee composition, the Convocation, the Student Faculty Council. So everything that falls under the term elections and where the central administration is involved. All elections that are covered in the Higher Education Act, Higher Education Electoral Regulations, and all committees that result from them – it all comes together at the Electoral Office. 

Sprachrohr: And you are the only person working on this?

Wettengel: Yes. So at the moment that's how it is – the Electoral Office consists of me, and I have a student staff member who supports me with administrative tasks. I've been doing this since 2000, shadowed for two years, and have been doing it alone since 2002.

Sprachrohr: Do you cooperate, do you work with university groups on the university elections? 

Wettengel: No. The university election is a three-quarter year project. At the beginning of the semester, in October, I look at the ministry's planning – when the semester begins, when it ends, what events there are in the year. Based on that, I make a proposal to the university leadership about when we can best hold the election. It's always at the end of the semester, when the holidays are usually over by then. In October I then publish the election date. Then the first groups come to me and ask me what, how, where and why. But we don't actively work together in a way that they are served. The active contact person for me is the Speaker Council / Student Government (SSR), they always get all the information. Individual groups don't get anything, because the problem here is that they can change and some might feel disadvantaged. So they have to actively come to me as the central contact person.

Sprachrohr: What are the steps leading up to the election? 

Wettengel: I first set the election date. Then I create an election programme, which has to be adjusted to the new circumstances – for example: what are the current student numbers? Then I have to link it to WueStudy now. Then the planning begins. I have a small election every year, where only you vote – the students – and a large election every two years, where everyone votes. For a small university election I have to run 11 polling stations, each faculty has its own polling station, the medical faculty has two. And every two years, when everyone votes, I have another polling station for the overall area. Which rooms can I get, where do I go, personnel has to be organised. The election boards always come from the administration area, so it has a certain official character. Then faculties are written to, the students, so they also send election helpers. These are the preparatory work that has to be done. 

Then towards the end of the year we move on to drawing up the election notice. There are always two election notices, one for the university elections, the area of faculty councils and the Senate, and then for the Student Convocation. That stands until the end of the winter semester. Then the preparation begins for the individual candidates. I write to the individual student councils, the deans, give them deadlines for forms. I don't chase anyone. But not everyone always submits a candidate by the end of April or May. Whoever hasn't submitted anything is out of luck. But there are normally always enough candidates.

Then, in April, I thoroughly check all the new candidates. There is a central deadline for submitting candidate lists. I meet with the election committee, we go through all candidate lists, and they approve them. 

Sprachrohr: According to what guidelines are the lists checked? 

Wettengel: Purely according to the Higher Education Act, whether the formal points of the Higher Education Regulations and the Higher Education Electoral Act have been complied with. 

Sprachrohr: How many people are involved? 

Wettengel: Roughly 140–150. And then another 30–40 people in the preparation, that is in the compilation of postal voting materials, miscellaneous stuff that comes up. 

Sprachrohr: And the student election helpers, how do you recruit them? 

Wettengel: I write to the student councils and request election helpers, as a basic number two helpers per faculty. Because it's an election in which students are involved, so they are also obliged to serve as election helpers. That's also stated in the Higher Education Act – that every member of the university, including students, has a duty to participate in the university's self-governance. In the meantime this has become more difficult because of Bachelor's and Master's degrees, because it's more structured. And missing a lecture because of university elections – that doesn't work; studies always come first for me. Usually it runs in shifts and works quite well and the election helpers come together. 

Sprachrohr: What is still coming up shortly before the election? 

Wettengel: Everyone who wants to receive postal voting materials must have submitted the application by a certain deadline. The postal applications are then entered and sent out two days later. At the moment we're at around 1,500. Once the postal voting is done, we start putting together voting packets for the individual polling stations: making sure the right ballot papers are in there, that the logistics needed to run a polling station are correct. Then I give briefings for the election board. Drinks have to be bought for the polling stations. In the two weeks before the election it's then tack-tack-tack one after another. 

Sprachrohr: What happens after the election? 

Wettengel: After the election, it's actually the case that I start counting the votes that night. Each polling station counts its own votes and enters them on a form I've prepared. And I sit there until one or two in the morning, so that we already have figures the next day, so I can hold an election committee meeting the next day by around 3 p.m. Then the university leadership knows by Thursday at the latest who the new committee members are. They are then notified and invited to the meetings. Then invitations for the Student Faculty Council also have to go out and those for the Student Convocation. I then write a script for the President, what he has to do, and one for the newly elected Chair, so he can continue the meeting independently.

Sprachrohr: We looked at the voter turnout from recent years. For the Senate it was 12% last year. How does that feel when you've put so much work into the election? 

Wettengel: (Laughs) But you looked at the good figures. It's just my job. There were also years with eight per cent voter turnout. Then the Speaker Council often said we're not doing enough. I can only answer: Yes, what else should we do? We give you all the options, but you have to approach your students yourselves to get them to vote. I always say to the students: You have to sharpen your awareness. You want to have a say? Then you also have to vote. In the meantime, voter turnout has settled at 12%, but there were times when it was only 8%.Of course, many more scientists and other university teaching staff go to vote. Sometimes I have turnouts of 80%. Although numerically fewer, there is a certain level of interest. 

Sprachrohr: What do you think is the reason for that?

Wettengel: I think awareness of committee work is lacking. I know it's a lot, and I know it's difficult alongside studies. With Magister and Diplom degrees it was easier, you didn't have the time problems. There was a decline when the switch was made from Bachelor's to Master's degrees. But that was also a lot down to the Speaker Council and the student committees not working on it as much. 

You have to see the whole thing a bit pragmatically. With every change in law we are called upon to give statements on how to make things simpler. One simplification would be, for example, online application for postal voting materials. I also look at the system from the European election, for example, where there was a QR code that made it easy to be directed to the page. 

Sprachrohr: What are your expectations for voter turnout at the upcoming election? 

Wettengel: I hope that voter turnout rises again, because we have a new group. With Die Partei [meaning Die Liste, the university group associated with Die Partei] there's something new now. Otherwise there probably won't be any changes. But from the basic configuration it's the same. GHG [Green University Group, ed. note], Jusos, RCDS [Ring of Christian Democratic Students, ed. note] and the student councils are basically the ones who are always there. The Pirates had their own list at one point, there was a list for the Left. Maybe Die Partei will bring a few voters with them, but we'll have to wait and see. 

Sprachrohr: Does that mean it shows in voter turnout when there are new groups? 

Wettengel: Yes, yes, of course. Previously there was only the Jusos list. When the GHG then split off, there was a clear trend away from the Jusos and towards the GHG.

Sprachrohr: For the next election, you have to download and print the ballot paper yourself from WueStudy. 

Wettengel: Until six years ago we still sent everyone the ballot paper. However, we initially had many, many returns, because of wrong addresses for example. These have to be maintained. We get all the post back – about 5,000 to 6,000 – and then have to do further research to find out how to reach people. For me it would be easier if everything came via email. But we're not that far technically yet. What I would like would be to generate a ballot notification directly via email. But it's not all working out the way I want it to yet, because you'd have to link the election programme with the email programme. But that's definitely an option for the coming years. At the moment the resources aren't available. 

Sprachrohr: And if the resources were available? 

Wettengel: I'm asked by many about online elections.I have to nip that in the bud straight away: It's demanded by many, but it's not legally possible. It's totally unrealistic, also from a data protection perspective. In Austria they tried it, in Hamburg they tried it, and the Chaos Computer Club only needed six minutes to crack the whole thing. 

Sprachrohr: Would voter turnout look different with a constituted student representation? 

Wettengel: I have no experience with that and no comparative values with other federal states. Bavaria has a uniform higher education electoral regulation. I'm a big fan of that. Otherwise there's a regulated chaos when each university has a different electoral regulation. In Bavaria you can exchange information better. 

Sprachrohr: What other factors influence the election? 

Wettengel: On an election day, many, many factors play a role. If it's 40 degrees, everyone goes to the swimming pool. Some student councils then get creative and hand out ice cream in front of the polling stations. So in front of the buildings. There is a restricted area, as with any other election, where no election campaigning is allowed. But if they stand in front of the building and hand out ice cream, I have no problem with that. It's up to the students themselves to take matters into their own hands and be creative to get people to vote. 

We've even scheduled elections after the football World Cup. Because if there's a group match of the German national team, I don't need to hold university elections that day. So you have to take such things into account. 

From us can only come: to place the polling stations as centrally as possible so everyone can reach them, so they are accessible. And then to publicise the whole thing. We do have a total lack of space, though. The students' idea was once to make the election three days long. But that doesn't help with voter turnout at all. Then the university leadership gets on my case – I can't shut down the departments for three days.

Sprachrohr: What would be your wishes regarding the election, directed at the students? 

Wettengel: Inform yourselves beforehand. Above all – this sounds harsh now, but – the be-all and end-all is reading. On election day my phone doesn't stop ringing. Why? Everyone has a ballot notification. The polling station is on it. But people just go to the polling station that's on their way. The most difficult clientele are the teacher trainees, because they're jumping around everywhere. And I can't have voting materials ready for everyone at every polling station. With 30,000 students, I already have 90,000 ballot papers alone for the Convocation, student councils and faculty councils. In theory I'd have to have them at every polling station at 100%. With the low voter turnout of 12%, huge amounts of paper get thrown away. 

Sprachrohr: Thank you very much for your time.

Alica Wittschen and Fabian Ballweg