- Help in political decision-making <unk> Election-O-Mat at the start
Voters can now use the online Voting-O-Matic as a decision-making tool for the state election on September 1st. They can compare their views with the positions of the 15 parties approved for the election. This involves the parties' answers to 38 theses, with most of these answers being explained by the parties, as the director of the state center for political education in Thuringia, Franziska Wittau, said when the website was launched in Erfurt.
Wittau said that the Voting-O-Matic does not make a voting decision. Rather, it helps voters make an independent and conscious decision, instead of voting on a whim.
Pommer: Clarity on what state issues are
The president of the state parliament, Birgit Pommer (Left), also sees the Voting-O-Matic as a means of reaching non-voters. It is worrying that around 35 percent of eligible voters did not vote in the state election in 2019. Around 1.66 million people are eligible to vote in Thuringia in early September. The Voting-O-Matic also shows which issues can actually be decided at the state level.
For the new edition of the Voting-O-Matic, the state center and the federal center for political education have joined forces with experts from science and education in Thuringia. A team of young and first-time voters aged 18 to 26 also contributed.
The Voting-O-Matic has been available since 2002 and has been offered for elections to the European Parliament, state and federal elections. Before the Thuringian state election in 2019, the Voting-O-Matic was used around 237,000 times.
Additional information on the Voting-O-Matic
However, there is also criticism of the decision-making tool. The Catholic Family Association in the Diocese of Erfurt criticizes the fact that more complex issues are simplified through yes/no questions. A one-sided picture can be created, as the parties themselves provide the answers to the questions. The association also criticizes the fact that the Voting-O-Matic does not provide information on who is actually elected and what views the candidates themselves hold. Nevertheless, the association calls on people to use the Voting-O-Matic.
Further decision-making tools
Other platforms can also help as a supplement to the Voting-O-Matic: On the online portal abgeordnetenwatch.de, voters can publicly ask the 271 direct candidates for the state election questions. Profiles of the individual candidates with brief descriptions and their political goals are also available there. The portal also offers a candidate check. With this, voters can find out which candidates have the most content-related agreements with them based on 14 theses on state politics. Abgeordnetenwatch.de obtains the current standpoints of the candidates for this purpose.
Link to the Voting-O-Matic
The online Voting-O-Matic serves as a valuable resource for voters during the upcoming state election on September 1st, allowing them to compare their views with the positions of the 15 participating parties. Following the election, voters can continue to use the tool to stay informed, as it has been available for use in state and federal elections since 2002.
The use of the Voting-O-Matic in the Thuringian state election in 2019 showed its effectiveness, with the tool being utilized around 237,000 times before the election. This tool can contribute significantly to increasing voter turnout, as seen by the concern expressed by the president of the state parliament, Birgit Pommer (Left), over the 35% of eligible voters who did not participate in the 2019 election.
