alright guys that was a lot of information! hey guys! what's up? it's
Kelly again and welcome back to my channel! many of you are probably aware
that we have a very, very important election coming up in the US which is
called our midterm election. we call it the midterm election or just midterms
for short because they come in the middle of the president's term... very
creative, I know. in light of this event, I decided to do a video to discuss with
all of you guys the differences between German elections and US elections... so put
on your boots and let's go back to civics class together. I'm sorry I won't
make any more jokes. Germany holds parliamentary elections or
Bundestagswahlen every four years in order to determine the 598 seats of
Parliament or the Bundestag. When Germans go to the polls they cast two different
votes- the first vote or erststimme and the second vote or zweitstimme. i know,
these are very creative names. each vote decides on half of the seats within the
Bundestag or parliament. the first vote is for a candidate running in the voter's
local constituency and there are 299 constituencies in Germany which makes up
299 seats within the Bundestag. for those of you who aren't great at math like me,
I will tell you that that is half of the Bundestag. and the second vote isn't for
a candidate at all, but rather a political party. the vote will go toward
deciding how many seats each political party will receive within the Bundestag
so long as they receive at least 5% of the total vote. the people who actually
fill these seats are chosen by the political parties in each federal state
of Germany and by the way there are over 40 different political parties in
Germany although there are only a handful that are actually represented
within the Bundestag because of that 5% rule I just told you about.
The Chancellor or Bundeskanzler is elected by the members of the Bundestag
so it's easy to realize that whatever political party has the most seats
within the Bundestag will have the most votes within the Bundestag and therefore
will be able to elect whoever they want to be the Bundeskanzler. However, it's
not so common for one political party to have fifty percent or more of the seats
within the Bundestag and so the political parties are having to work
together to build a coalition through concessions in order to breach that
fifty percent threshold and effectively elect a Bundeskanzler. and there are
no term limits for the Bundeskanzler. In fact, there are no term limits for
anyone sitting on the Bundestag. the president of Germany holds more of a
ceremonial role so nobody really cares about him. in the US, we have elections
every two years. The entire House of Representatives is up for election every
two years, one third of the Senate is up for election every two years to make up
six-year terms, and the president is up for election every four years and is
restricted to serving only two four-year terms.
and unlike Germany's parliamentary system, in the US the president kind of a
big deal. there are a hundred senators, two per state, and 435 representatives, the
number of which per state varies by population. DC and the five US
territories are represented each and only by a delegate in the House who is
very limited in power and I can't really speak to how citizens of the five
territories feel about that because I've never lived there nor have I really
talked to anyone from there about it but I will say that the majority of
residents in DC are quite upset with this. in fact, even the DC license plate
has a slogan about it. the president is elected through the electoral college
whereas Congress which is the Senate and the House together, is directly elected
by voters. and very unlike Germany's 40 political parties, the US has a two-party
political system which is dominated by the Republican Party and the Democratic
Party. alright, that's enough background let's move on to this stuff I really
want to talk about which is that what is it really like for a US voter
versus a German voter. well for starters, in the US, it seems like election
season never ends because we have these elections every two years so you're
always seeing signs posts along the road or in people's yards, you're always
getting phone calls from campaign offices wanting to talk to you about
their candidate, and you're always seeing and hearing political ads on the radio
or on TV. and these ads are usually in a very aggressive attack format just like
launching offensive at their opponent or the opposition party. and this of course
ramps up the closer you get to an election like we are right now, but it
truly never ends. and these campaigns can cost up to millions of dollars.
In Germany, it is so very different. campaign season is legally restricted to last
only six short weeks ahead of the Bundestagwahl which probably sounds
like a paradise to many americans right now like me who are just a little tired
of being inundated with campaigns. and while there are ads on TV and radio in
Germany, they're not in this attack style like you see in the US but they're
rather much more cordial. campaign signs and posters play a much more prominent
role in German elections and it seemed to me like these signs wallpapered
entire cities in Germany ahead of last year's Bundestagswahl. and I noticed that
these campaign signs were quite a bit different from what I'm used to seeing
in the US. for example there was always a picture of the candidate next to their
name whereas here you're usually just getting the candidate's name. and then
there were some very, very different signs put up by the AFD political party
with extremely provocative slogans and photos and thoughts.. something that I
never have seen in the US put up by a campaign office. also, campaigns in Germany are
also far less costly than US campaigns. every German citizen who is at least 18
years old has the right to vote in the Bundestagswahl and actually at age 16
Germans are able to start voting in provincial elections.
there's no voter registration process because every German is
is automatically registered and whenever they show up to the polls they just have
to show their German national ID. and the German national idea is compulsory for
every German who is at least 16 years old so it is guaranteed for every German
to have one. there are very very few restrictions for who is eligible to vote
in Germany to include those who have a legal guardian or the very rare case of
a judge taking away someone's right to vote temporarily because they were
convicted of committing a politically motivated crime but other than that
everybody maintains their right to vote. in the US you have to be at least 18 to
be allowed to vote in any election and you have to go through a voter
registration process ahead of your specific state's designated registration
deadline and unlike Germany, it isn't required for a US citizen to have a form
of identification nor is there any sort of standardized form of identification
so in order to register to vote or to go to the polling station on Election Day
and cast your vote you have to have a form of ID that is accepted by your
specific state such as a US driver's license, a passport, a military ID and
some states will even accept things like a hunting license or a utility bill or
something like this. the right to vote for the president is not extended to
those residents of the five US territories and 48 out of 50 states do
not allow their felons who are currently serving time to vote but beyond that, ex-felon
and prisoner rights really vary state by state but in 2016 there were
6.1 million people who were ineligible to vote because of felon convictions and
just to circle back to Germany, felons maintain their right to vote whether
they're out of jail or currently serving time. there is also plenty of literature
and news stories out there talking about US voter suppression that goes beyond
what I just mentioned. in Germany you receive a letter in the mail telling you
where your polling station is based on your residential address and election
day is usually held on a Sunday. for anyone familiar with Germany then you
know that Sunday's are very very quiet- usually all the stores are closed,
obviously it's not a workday and so it is really easy for Germans to be able to
go to the polling stations and vote. in fact, a lot of Germans will make it sort
of a family activity where the whole family will go to the polling station,
everyone who's eligible to vote will cast their vote, and then they'll go out
to eat together as a family for this special occasion. and the elections must
be held between 46 and 48 months after the first Bundestag sitting and so the
date of the election can really vary even by the month. in the US, your polling
station is also determined by your residential address but they are not
standardized. it can be a fire hall or a parish center or a recreation center or a
school and so on and Election Day in the US. is always held on a Tuesday which
is a workday which obviously presents some issues. some employers will allow
their employees time off to go to the polling stations and vote but these
accommodations are in no way guaranteed and so in order to combat this there are
37 states who allow early voting so that people can go to the polls far in
advance of the actual Election Day and vote in accordance with a time that's
more appropriate for their schedule. and I know I didn't mention it earlier but
Germany does not have this early voting thing. Both Germany and the US. have
absentee ballots or letter ballots so that citizens who are unable to get to
their polling station are still able to cast their vote as long as it's for an
approved reason. the voting process in Germany is done entirely by paper and is
standardized across the country whereas in the US, there is no sort of standard
and each state can choose its own method and some states even have multiple
methods that they employ district by district. now please correct me if I'm
wrong in the comments but I did not see nor am i aware of any Germans receiving
a "I voted" sticker at their polling station
after voting. in the US this is like a really popular thing and on election day,
you will see people wearing their "I voted" sticker around, posting it on
Facebook or Instagram, and there are even a lot of bars and restaurants here in DC
who are offering specials and discounts for people who are wearing their "I voted"
sticker on election day. it is a huge deal and this is all sort of a marketing
campaign to try to encourage people to go out and vote because we have a
history of really low voter turnout. alright guys, that was so much information
I know but I hope you found it as interesting as I did. I'm really curious
to see what you guys have to say in the comment section especially if you think
that there is one system that works way better than the other system. don't
forget to hit the thumbs up if you like this video and subscribe to my channel
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check out. my handle is Kellydoesherthing creative, again, I know