Identify the kind of election first.
Local elections concern the municipal level, such as municipal and county councils. Alongside age, the law requires German citizenship or citizenship of another EU state and further conditions. Age alone therefore does not establish full eligibility.
As a general rule, residence connected to a home in the relevant electoral area must have existed for at least three months; with several homes, the principal home counts. The law also contains a special rule for returning residents. Casting a vote requires an entry in the electoral register or a polling certificate.
The other three answers
Legal adulthood and local voting age are different.
14
At 14, the statutory minimum age for this local election has not been reached.
18
Eighteen is too high here. Article 46 of the state constitution sets 18 for Landtag elections; this local-election question requires 16.
20
Twenty is not the minimum age for voting in Thüringen local elections.
Distinguish voting from standing as a candidate.
Section 12 generally requires candidates for a municipal council to be 18. The right to vote from 16 therefore does not mean a person can already obtain a council seat at 16.
Under section 1(3), someone returning to the municipality within a year after moving away can regain eligibility immediately. The local electoral authority handles a specific move or uncertainty about registration.
Section 1 · Thüringen Local Elections Act ↗Thüringen local elections: 16. Landtag elections: 18.
Check the minimum age on election day and remember the other conditions.
Three words for this question
- wahlberechtigteligible to vote
- Entitled to vote in a particular election.
- die Hauptwohnungprincipal home
- The legally relevant principal home where there are several homes.
- wählbareligible to stand
- Eligible to be elected to the relevant office.