Overview
- A Cologne resident received a crate with roughly 171–173 absentee packets, most addressed to the placeholder name Max Mustermann.
- City officials say the misdirected letters were test prints meant to calibrate production that were mistakenly mailed by the contractor.
- Deutsche Post, after consulting the election office, withheld 96 additional similar mailings, and the city retrieved the misdelivered crate.
- The election office says any attempted returns using those documents would be flagged during sorting and excluded, so results would not be affected.
- Municipalities across NRW report heavy postal volumes and offer replacements for missing materials, and Düsseldorf reminds mail ballots must arrive by Sunday 16:00 to count.