Second vote

In Germany, the second vote (German: Zweitstimme) is generally the decisive vote for the allocation of seats to the political parties. With it, the voter chooses a party whose candidates are put together on a state list. In addition to the second vote, the voter can cast a first vote (German: Erststimme), with which he or she votes for a candidate in the constituency. The validity of the second vote remains unaffected by any invalidity of the first vote (Section 39 of the Federal Election Law).

In some German state electoral systems, the vote corresponding to the second vote is called the list vote (Saxony) or the state vote (Thuringia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse). It has been proposed that the second vote in the federal election be renamed the list vote.