The Lokal-O-Mat: Your voting aid for the local elections in North Rhine-Westphalia!

The Lokal-O-Mat: Your voting aid for the local elections in North Rhine-Westphalia!

The upcoming local elections in North Rhine-Westphalia on September 14, 2025 are getting closer and will reach more and more citizens. Over 14 million people eligible to vote are called upon to cast their votes and thus make important decisions in the country's almost 400 cities and municipalities. Topics such as the construction of a new high school, the closure of an outdoor swimming pool and the need for a new tram line are the focus of discussions.

Around 250,000 people are already using it to make voting decisions easier local-o-mat, a digital tool for forming opinions. Developed by the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf in collaboration with the State Center for Civic Education in North Rhine-Westphalia, the Lokal-o-mat helps voters to compare their positions with the positions of the competing parties.

How the Lokal-O-Mat works

The Lokal-o-mat presents users with 30 current local political theses one after the other. These can be answered with “agree”, “neutral” or “disagree”. In addition, those involved have the opportunity to skip the theses, change their weighting and select the parties that should be included in the comparison. At the end, voters receive an overview showing how well their views match those of the selected parties. The parties' justifications for their answers are also visible, which further supports the decision-making process.

The response to the Lokal-o-mat is particularly high in larger cities such as Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Cologne and Münster. But smaller municipalities such as Haan and Coesfeld also benefit from adaptable versions of the tool. In Witten, for example, over 10,000 users used the Lokal-o-mat, which corresponds to more than 10% of those eligible to vote. In Coesfeld, more than 7,000 citizens were able to use the Lokal-o-mat, which corresponds to almost a quarter of all people eligible to vote.

Political education and young voters

The North Rhine-Westphalia State Center for Political Education offers extensive information on local elections. The website www.herzstueck.nrw contains details about eligibility to vote, the electoral bodies and the candidates. What is particularly noteworthy is that 16-year-olds are already allowed to use the right to vote in North Rhine-Westphalia, which promotes the commitment of young people. Issues that affect young voters will therefore be given greater focus.

The digital voting aid Lokal-o-mat has established itself as an effective tool for supporting voters who struggle with uncertainty or are undecided. Until September 14th, citizens continue to have the opportunity to express their opinions on the positions of the parties Lokal-o-mat.de to compare. Project manager Prof. Stefan Marschall is optimistic about the use of the tool, which is already being used for ten project municipalities and can serve as a template for other cities.