 "Beer for vote campaign: German city offers free drink voucher to improve voter turnout")
A city in western Germany has found a creative way to motivate lazy voters to go and cast their ballots at the voting booths- free drinks!
Last week, Duisburg authorities offered a drink voucher to everyone who cast an absentee ballot in the city center before 2 pm local time. The voucher then could be redeemed at a nearby beer cart.
Not a fan of beer? No problem. Authorities also offered free vouchers for non-alcoholic drinks. A local brewery even pitched in to support the idea.
The result
And it seemed to be working. A reporter from the German DPA news agency spotted around 80 voters grabbing the offer within the first hour.
Duisburg election official Martin Murrack explained that parts of the city, especially the north, have struggled with low voter turnout. In the 2021 federal election, only 63.3 per cent of voters in the Duisburg II district showed up, well below the national average of 76.6 per cent.
“With this unusual campaign, our carnivalists are ensuring that the federal election is once again in the spotlight. It also appeals to citizens who are not persuaded to vote by the usual election posters or information campaigns,” Murrack said, describing it as “a clear benefit for voter turnout and therefore for our democracy!”
German elections 2025
Germans are heading to polls on Sunday (February 23) to elect their new Bundestag . The snap elections were triggered by the collapse of the “traffic-light” coalition of social democrats, liberals and greens last year. Among the top issues for voters are the economy, migration and Ukraine’s war with Russia.
Recent polls suggest that opposition mainstream parties the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) are leading with 29 per cent support, just ahead of the far-right Alternative Fur Deutschland (AfD), which is faring at 21 per cent.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsAccording to an estimate of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) based on the 2022 Census, there are approximately 59.2 million voters in Germany who are eligible to cast their votes in Sunday’s elections. Of these voters, around 2.3 million are first-time voters.
(With inputs from agencies)
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