Elective fraud in Rüsselsheim: Court guilty speaks!

Elective fraud in Rüsselsheim: Court guilty speaks!

At the Groß-Gerau district court, a 43-year-old Rüsselsheimer was convicted of attempted elections in the 2021 local elections. The lay judge expressed a prison sentence of one year and two months, which was exposed to probation. As part of her work, the accused had submitted fake ballot papers for a local group of voters for the postal vote. These ballot papers were based on illegally obtained powers, which led to a total number of 34 records. The accused confessed in the main hearing, which saved the court an extensive evidence, and refrained from contesting the judgment, which is now final.

While the punishment was partially influenced by an still open prison sentence from an earlier judgment, the woman had already had a suspended sentence due to fraud due to the refuge of unemployment benefit in the period when she was self -employed. In addition, she has a criminal record for theft and unauthorized removal after a car accident. In his judgment, the judge warned that the consequences could be stricter at the next offense. A prosecutor had called for a stricter punishment, whereas the defense requested that the defense requested a one -year suspended sentence. The presiding judge found that the accused did not intentionally wanted to undermine the state.

background of the election fraud affair

The city administration of Rüsselsheim had checked the election process of local elections 2021 after suspicions. In this context, the postal voting documents of over 12,000 voters were examined. At the district level, it was decided to repeat the election of the district council in some postal voting districts, while the election of the city council of Groß-Gerau was not repeated. In another procedure, the Darmstadt public prosecutor's office is investigating two further accused on suspicion of falsification of documents in connection with the 2021 local elections. These investigations also affect the nearby city of Raunheim.

Originally, nine investigations were initiated, seven of which were discontinued due to a lack of suspicion. Another procedure ended due to minor guilt. No charges have yet been raised in the remaining two procedures. It is expected that the accused have used fake signatures to have access to the postal voting documents. The incidents have led to a deep distrust of the electoral system and a broad discussion about the security of postal voting.

In the context of these events, it should be noted that numerous reports on election counterfeits, especially in postal voting, are circulating in Germany. These cases are often uncovered, which indicates a high number of unreported cases. Similar problems were also found in other cities and countries, which extends the problem of voting fraud and manipulation in the election process to a broader international spectrum. This generally raises questions about the integrity and transparency of elections.