Electorate given advice on how to vote correctly

It will not have gone unnoticed that major elections are to take place in the canton 7 October, a day being referred to as Super Sunday.

The seven members of the cantonal government, the five members of the core city council of Zug, the mayor of Zug, the councillors in the individual municipalities and the mayors thereof are to be elected according to the majority voting system, when the electorate votes for individuals, hence the seats are given to those who achieve the majority of votes.

On the other hand, the 80 members of the cantonal parliament and the 40 members of the greater council of the city of Zug are to be elected according to proportional representation.

Naturally, the ballot papers relating to elections by the majority voting system are different from those under the proportional representation system, where instructions must be followed particularly carefully to ensure ballot papers are not void through being filled in incorrectly. Voters should not forget, for example, to include candidates’ official numbers on the ballot papers.  

Once electors have made their choices, they can vote by post when they must make sure they have signed their voter identity slip and put their ballot paper in the green envelope and seal it. Both the voter identity slip and the envelope with ballot paper must then be put in the return envelope, making sure, of course, the address of the appropriate municipality is clearly visible. This envelope can then either be sent by post or taken to the letter box of the administration offices of the appropriate municipality.

Alternatively, electors can vote in person by taking their voter identity slip and ballot paper to the polling station of the municipality. The voter identity slip then has to be handed over with the ballot paper duly stamped on the back prior to it being put in the ballot box.

An official website, www.zg.ch/wahlen is there to help. In addition, the Zuger Zeitung has also set up a special website, zugerzeitung.ch/bonus, to guide electors though the right procedures. It has also collaborated with the smartvote.ch website to help the electorate find the candidates who meet their specific needs through a questionnaire.

The Zuger Zeitung has further announced it will not be publishing any readers’ letters on election matters after Friday 28 September.

The photograph shows a number of posters of political hopefuls, and these are just from Cham.