Steven N.
As of yesterday, Hungarians in Uzhhorod, Beregszász, Cluj-Napoca, Miercurea Ciuc, Bucharest, and Subotica who have registered to vote are able to pick up their ballot “packages” at the local Hungarian consulates in those towns.
Up until the day of the vote, Hungarian citizens can pick up their packages at these locations every day between 6:00am-10:00pm. On Monday, six more diplomatic missions will also offer this opportunity to those wishing to exercise their right to vote.
Voters who do not have a permanent address in Hungary, typically cross-border ethnic Hungarians, can vote for party lists only, not for individual candidates. They must have registered by March 9, which 456,000 voters did this year, more than in 2014 and 2018.
Upon picking up their ballot packages, voters may deliver their vote immediately. Those who requested their ballot package by mail do not even have to go to the embassy or consulate but can mail their ballot back.
A much-criticized aspect of the electoral system is that Hungarians studying or working abroad who retain an address in Hungary cannot vote by mail, only in person. But there are so few embassies or consulates in some countries that many people have to travel for hours to vote.
21 Research Center has estimated that letting Hungarian émigrés vote by mail would take less effort to run the election, increase turnout, and possibly reverse the results of 3-6 electoral districts. [444]
