![\"Voting](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/675576864_highres.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Postage costs for returning voting documents to Switzerland vary depending on your country of residence, in some cases significantly. <\/p>\n
Keystone \/ Alessandro Della Valle <\/p>\n
Swiss citizens abroad sometimes have to pay high postage costs to ensure their votes reach Switzerland on time. Our survey shows where voting from abroad costs the most \u2013 and when participation becomes prohibitively expensive.\n<\/p>\n
This content was published on <\/p>\n
May 9, 2026 – 10:00\n<\/p>\n
\u201cDear Swiss Abroad in Denmark, has anyone already received their voting documents for the referendum on March 8?\u201d asked a user in February on SwissCommunity, a platform for the Swiss Abroad.<\/p>\n
The background to the enquiry was that these were the first voting documents from Switzerland no longer delivered in Denmark by the state postal company PostNord.<\/p>\n
Denmark is considered a pioneer in digitalisation. At the end of 2025, it became the first European country to discontinue public letter delivery and remove all red letterboxes. Since the beginning of the year, letters \u2013 including voting envelopes from Switzerland \u2013 have been delivered by the private company DaoExternal link<\/a>.<\/p>\n For the Swiss Abroad, the March votes were therefore a test of the new system. \u201cI\u2019ve read that late receipt of voting documents is a recurring problem for Swiss citizens abroad. But this is the first time it has happened to me here in Denmark,\u201d Alice el-Wakil, who has lived in the Nordic country since 2022, told Swissinfo. As a political scientist specialising in participation and representation, el-Wakil is particularly sensitive to even small disruptions to democratic processes.<\/p>\n Read our article on delayed voting mail for the Swiss Abroad:<\/p>\n \n More<\/p>\n More <\/p>\n Swiss Abroad\n <\/p>\n Why can\u2019t voting papers be sent to the Swiss Abroad earlier? <\/p>\n This content was published on <\/p>\n May 25, 2021 <\/p>\n A quarter of Swiss citizens who live abroad struggle to return their voting papers in time. Unfortunately the obvious solutions are also illegal. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Read more: Why can\u2019t voting papers be sent to the Swiss Abroad earlier? Swiss people\u2019s experiences with Dao vary. One Facebook user wrote: \u201cWe received the documents for both the March 8 vote and the March 29 elections in canton Bern. But they only arrived two weeks before the deadline instead of around four weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n Other voters reported receiving the documents on time. Some, however, had the same experience as el-Wakil and found no voting envelope in their letterbox.<\/p>\n Maxime Bergamin, vice-president of Swissclub Denmark, also received feedback from Swiss citizens who did not receive their voting documents on time. \u201cMany people, including myself, have not received a single letter for weeks. This also includes the documents for votes and elections in Switzerland,\u201d says Bergamin.<\/p>\n In response to an enquiry from Swissinfo, the Federal Chancellery wrote that it had asked the Swiss foreign ministry about the impact of the situation in Denmark on postal delivery. \u201cAccording to the information received, the timely delivery of mail should not be affected by the changeover.\u201d The Federal Chancellery said it had no indications of systematic delays.<\/p>\n Sometimes expensive returns from abroad<\/p>\n In addition to late or non-delivery of voting envelopes, return postage costs are also causing concern among the Swiss Abroad community in Denmark. \u201cIt costs 46 Danish kroner (CHF5.60) to send a letter to Switzerland and takes four to 16 working days, which exceeds the voting deadlines in Switzerland,\u201d says Bergamin.<\/p>\n A Facebook user expressed a similar view: \u201cWho wants to send a letter back to Switzerland at these prices?\u201d<\/p>\n CHF5.60 ($7.18) per letter may seem manageable. But over four votes a year, this adds up to around CHF22.40 annually. This raises the question: at what point does political participation become too expensive? And is it acceptable for this to vary depending on the country of residence?<\/p>\n As a rule, Swiss voters are called to the ballot box four times a year, with an average of ten to 15 federal proposals annually. The Swiss Abroad Act<\/a> stipulates that Swiss citizens abroad can participate in Swiss democracy. More than 230,000 are currently eligible to vote and registered in the electoral roll.<\/p>\n In Belgium, Swiss voters have to dig particularly deep into their pockets. It costs the equivalent of CHF8.10 to return voting documents to Switzerland. \u201cAnd there are regular price increases,\u201d says Florence Roth, a member of the Council of the Swiss Abroad in Belgium.<\/p>\n Postage from Canada (CHF3) or Ireland (CHF3.20) is cheaper. However, if time is short, faster services are needed, costing four times as much \u2013 CHF12.80 from Ireland, for example.<\/p>\n According to Roland Erne, a member of the Council of the Swiss Abroad in Ireland, such postage costs may discourage some Swiss Abroad from exercising their right to vote. \u201cI\u2019ve heard that several times,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Ruth Perracini-Liechti, delegate from Costa Rica, shares this view. \u201cThe cost of return postage from Costa Rica is around CHF10.\u201d The bigger problem, however, is that voting documents often do not arrive in time. \u201cEven if we receive the documents, I assume some people choose not to vote because of the high costs.\u201d<\/p>\n Delays are the biggest problem<\/p>\n Perracini-Liechti touches on what many Swiss Abroad see as the main issue: not the cost of returning voting envelopes, but delayed delivery in some countries. This creates the risk that votes will not arrive in Switzerland on time.<\/p>\n Those who want to ensure their vote is counted despite late delivery often turn to courier services. But these are expensive.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the documents arrive less than one week before the vote, we can only send them back by courier. That costs around CHF30 from Shanghai,\u201d says Daniel Heusser, a member of the Council of the Swiss Abroad in China.<\/p>\n Anyone who wants things to be done quickly should use a provider such as the courier service DHL to send out the voting documents. <\/p>\n Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. <\/p>\n The situation is similar in Sri Lanka. Because he usually receives election documents only shortly before the vote, Swiss Abroad councillor Rolf Blaser says he has never tried returning them by regular post. \u201cThat leaves courier services, which cost around CHF100,\u201d he says. Such costs discourage him from voting \u2013 \u201cand probably all the other Swiss in this region too\u201d.<\/p>\n Flurina D\u00fcnki, who lives in Mexico City, also sees distance as a major obstacle to political participation. \u201cIt takes around two to three weeks for the voting envelope to reach us.\u201d After that, it must immediately be sent back by post to have any chance of arriving in Switzerland on time. \u201cPrivate courier services are safer,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n She tried this herself during the March vote. \u201cIt would have cost me around CHF60 to vote.\u201d An amount that requires considerable political motivation \u2013 if one can afford it at all.<\/p>\n D\u00fcnki\u2019s suggestion: eligible voters should join forces and send a collective envelope via private courier to a person in Switzerland, who would then handle domestic postage.<\/p>\n In the debate over postage costs, many Swiss Abroad point to e-voting as a possible solution. However, the e-voting debacle in Basel on March 8 weakened confidence in the system among some voters abroad. <\/p>\n \n More<\/p>\n More <\/p>\n Swiss Abroad\n <\/p>\n E-voting debacle in Basel: embarrassing glitch or serious problem? <\/p>\n This content was published on <\/p>\n Mar 9, 2026 <\/p>\n Votes received electronically in canton Basel City could not be counted. <\/p>\n![\"Person](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/9205282ff6ce127a6bb7659a93136036-bundesbeschluss-jpg-data.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n <\/a><\/p>\n![\"DHL](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/663494985_highres.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/eb69a0512eac84ed66b8371cef50f53b-image_20220504phd9224-data.webp\")
<\/p>\n