by Per van der Klauw
Hello dearest members, on the 29th of October it will be another round of voting for the house
of representatives of the Kingdom of the Netherlands! This means that it will be time to vote.
For some of you it might be the first time for others (especially anyone who is 20 years or
older.) It will most likely not be the first time. For this reason, I write this article to give a
refresher on the procedure and how it works.
Important note! I want to be impartial, so I will not go into my opinion of what party
you should vote for. This is something for yourself to decide. You can always ask me
how I would tackle choosing a party to vote for, but I will not steer you in a direction
to vote.
Having said this, let’s get into the first step:
- How will I know if I am eligible to vote?
The website of the Dutch government states 3 requirements to be able to vote within the
Netherlands.
– You need to have a Dutch nationality
– You need to be at least 18 years of age on the day of the election
– You need to not be banned from voting
This last one can only occur after a judge orders it so. If you do not know if you are banned
then you most likely are not.
Sadly for people that come from Aruba, Curaçao and Saint Martin you are not eligible,
except if you have lived in the Netherlands for 10 years.
2. The vote card (Stempas)
This card you will receive at the place where you are registered according to the
government. It will be delivered by mail so make sure that your current living situation is up
to date. Make sure you do this in a timely manner!!
3. The day itself
The day itself, which is Wednesday the 29th of October. You will be able to vote!! It is
important that you have your passport or ID with you to vote. As if you cannot identify
yourself you may not be allowed to vote. This does not mean that you need to stress about
having an up to date ID or passport as it can be out of date by 5 years at most. On the day
itself the Kritiki will organise voting rounds so that you can go vote with your friends!!
4. Unable to vote and volmacht
If for some reason you do not have time to vote you are allowed to give someone the right to
vote in your name. For this you can use the back of the ‘stempas’. Furthermore this person
needs to have a copy of your ID when they go vote themselves. It is important to have
someone who you can trust vote for you.
Lastly, for any KB’ers who would like to come to the voting round, but who do not live in Delft
I have sad new :/ You need to vote in your own municipality, if you see it necessary you can
apply at your municipality to ask the dispensation to vote in Delft if you do not live there.
5. The moment of voting itself
When you finally did all of the things that were asked of you and you show up at the voting
booths you now have a few options which you can do!!
5.1 Not voting
You show up, but in the end you don’t feel like it. Then you turn around and walk away. Your
vote is not counted as you did not cast one.
5.2 Voting normally
You did your research. You either vote according to your own convictions or vote tactically as
you think that that is the best option. Your vote will be counted towards the party you voted
for, well done!!
5.3 Voting Blanco
You can show up, get your voting paper and then not fill in anything. This vote is still valid,
however it does not count towards the barrier to entry for the house of representatives. It is
however still valuable as it is still counted toward the people that show up. This type of vote
is useful if you disagree with all parties and you want to still show your grievance with the
election. As a large enough amount of blanco show that people have no faith in the election.
5.4 Oopsies and fuckups
What happens if you accidentally filled in the wrong box for voting? No worries, you can go
back to the person handing out the voting papers and ask for a new one. As to make sure
that you do not commit fraud, your old paper will be taken in.
And now you have participated in democracy, well done!!!