This is a rather complicated story....over illegal voting in Germany (a very rare event). Most Germans will tell you that the current system is fairly stringent, and fraudulent voting is near impossible.
So today, HR (our public TV network in Hessen) lays out what is a corrupted voting scandal.
This happened over Kelsterbach (lies between Wiesbaden and Frankfurt), around four years ago.
What the authorities now say.....after a very long investigation, is that some candidate for a local council position rigged up his election results in the area in some illegal manner.
He got with a couple of associates and then did some false postal voting papers (absentee ballots).
Charges now? Yes, and here's the thing....in Germany, it's a bit rough. Five of years of prison if they go for the max.
The problem here....if you read through the whole investigation and what the journalists lay out....they haven't really stopped with the three. There's apparently 10 more folks, and their 'deeds' might go back over the years, and involve 30 different cases.
A common thing? I would doubt it. It's almost impossible to find a situation where some dead guy votes (unless he dies on election day), or some non-German votes. The absentee system? It might be the one weakest point of their entire system. But if this were about a local election? It would seem that this guy was desperate enough and needing more than just a couple of votes. It just makes you wonder if you were involved into fifty-odd or a hundred-odd vote situations.
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