BERLIN — Polling stations in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern remained open for a third straight day on Monday, as election officials announced that the vote would not be declared complete until every eligible citizen had cast a ballot, a process now expected to run until the end of the decade.
«We have decided to keep the booths open until the last voter has voted,» said state election commissioner Klaus-Dieter Brandt. «If that takes until 2031, so be it. Democracy cannot be rushed.»
In Berlin, where 2.49 million people are eligible, officials have begun delivering ballot boxes to homes, offices, and at least one U-Bahn carriage. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the 1.3 million voters have been assigned staggered voting times based on their birthday, with those born in January already on their fourth round.
The extended vote has transformed daily life. Schools have converted gymnasiums into permanent polling halls. Bakeries now sell «election rolls» stamped with the logos of all 17 parties. In Schwerin, a tent city has sprung up around the Landtag for voters who refuse to leave until the result is announced.
«I voted on Sunday, then again on Monday, and I plan to vote every day until they tell me to stop,» said Anke Müller, a retiree from Rostock. «It is the most civic exercise I have ever done.»
International observers have arrived to monitor the marathon, with one describing it as «the most thorough election in human history.» Officials insist the count will be finalized once the last voter has been located, which may require sending teams into the forests of Mecklenburg.