Local election law in Rhineland-Palatinate has been amended several times since the end of the war. The most far-reaching change took place in 1989 with the introduction of proportional representation with open lists. This brought the number of votes available to voters into line with the number of council members. This meant that each voter could cast a total of 589 votes in the 1989 election and, after the number of council members was increased, a maximum of 60 votes in the 1994 election.

Voters now have the option of concentrating several votes (maximum 3) on one candidate. This is known in technical terms as "cumulating." And/or voters can distribute their votes among candidates from different lists. This is called "splitting."