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Local elections: Voters in Denmark (including foreigners) to receive ballots this week

The Local Denmark
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Local elections: Voters in Denmark (including foreigners) to receive ballots this week
Køge Centrum, få timer efter at valgplakater måtte hænges op, lørdag den 23. oktober 2021. Få timer efter klokken 12.00 den 23. oktober 2021, hvor valgplakaterne officielt måtte hænges op, hang der valgplakater overalt.. (Foto: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix)

Denmark on Monday commenced delivery of some 4.6 million election ballots for the upcoming regional and municipal elections on November 16th.

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Danish postal service PostNord confirmed in a statement that ballots were now being sent out.

“This is a very big job. It’s three times as big (as the workload) in a normal week,” PostNord’s head of Mail Operation & Last Mile Thomas Lauritzen told news wire Ritzau.

“Members of the public can expect election ballots to land from today, Monday, and we are banking on having delivered the last ones by Thursday afternoon,” Lauritzen added.

Over 400,000 foreign citizens who live in Denmark – 414,419 to be exact – are eligible to vote in the elections on November 16th, according to figures from the interior ministry.

Of the 414,419 international residents who can vote, 221,331 are from EU or Nordic countries. As such, 193,088 non-EU and Nordic residents are also eligible to vote.

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Unlike in general elections – in which only Danish citizens can vote – EU, Norwegian and Icelandic citizens over the age of 18 with a permanent address in Denmark are entitled to vote in municipal and regional elections.

Additionally, foreign citizens over 18 who have residency permits and have lived in Denmark for four years or more prior to the date of the election also qualify to take part in the poll.

British citizens who registered as resident in Denmark no later than January 31st, 2020 and have lived in the country continually since then also have the right to vote.

UK nationals who registered residence in Denmark after this date (and thereby after the UK left the EU) must fulfil the requirement to have lived in Denmark for at least four years to be able to vote in the local elections.

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The post service said those waiting to receive ballots should ensure their names are correctly displayed on post boxes to ensure correct receipt of election ballots.

“We make sure that the name on the post box matches the ballot to be delivered in people’s post boxes,” Lauritzen said.

“It is therefore incredibly important for us that our customers make sure names on post boxes are correct,” he added.

People who are voting for the first time in the elections – around 200,000 in total – will also be provided with a copy of the Danish constitution alongside their election ballots.

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