Our first municipal voting experience in the Netherlands
If you are a permanent resident in the Netherlands for at least 5 years, you automatically become eligible to vote. Since my eldest son is already 18 years old, he now has the privilege to exercise his right to vote and participate in the municipal elections. In line with this, he also received a Stempas (voter invitation card) from the city hall. It was the first municipal election for me too.
There is a good website that one of my neighbors told me about- it is called Kieskompas (https://hilversum.kieskompas.nl/nl/) and it is a website that helps us choose who to elect based on our political views or preferences. Isn't the first question on the site about coffee shops truly Dutch?
My son also researched the candidates' agenda and this was his basis to vote for the candidates. When he exercised his right to vote, I felt that he is now an adult and I'm so proud of this new milestone in his life.
Stempas is issued by the municipality based on the municipal personal record database (GBA).
Kieskompas's first question. "Het aantal coffeeshops in Hilversum moet worden verminderd" means "There should be fewer coffee shops in Hilversum."
We went to a polling place with our neighbour, a school that is a 1-minute walk from the house.
To vote, manually mark the ballot with a red pencil provided by the polling place. In fact, in 2005 almost all municipalities planned to abandon pencil and paper voting, and the 2006 local elections were held electronically nationwide. However, serious questions about voting falsification and electronic eavesdropping were raised, and it seems that the red pencil was reintroduced.
My son's first vote：‐）
Our neighbour took a picture of us when I took a picture of his first vote.
Our neighbour taking commemorative photos.
We can look up the election results on the city hall website.
City hall website:
You can download a PDF file of these results:
Overall, I'm happy with the results of this election, and I highly recommend everyone to exercise their right to vote.