Overview

• A Cologne resident received a post crate with roughly 171 to 173 postal-voting envelopes, with all but two addressed to the placeholder name “Max Mustermann.”
• City officials traced the error to printer setup samples that were mistakenly sent into the mail stream.
• Deutsche Post held back 96 additional suspect letters as the printing contractor reviews whether more cases occurred.
• Election staff collected the misdirected batch, and the city says any such materials would be flagged and removed during Wahlamt sorting.
• With the 28 September runoffs approaching, other NRW cities reported delivery hiccups, and local offices advised voters on replacements or using Sofortwahlstellen if packets did not arrive.