Counting in the Provincial Council elections and the water board elections will be different tomorrow than usual. The aim is more openness, in order to further guarantee confidence in the result. Counting errors must be corrected more transparently and counting can be faster, because polling stations can initially count per party list. It will also become easier to request recounts.
In an explanation of the changes, the Electoral Council emphasizes that elections are a process of trust. The council also refers to the recently manifested distrust in the democratic process in, for example, the United States and Brazil, where government buildings were stormed after doubts were cast about an election result.
“The basis of our democracy is casting the vote. It is therefore really important to organize elections properly. We have already looked at how we can do that better in recent years,” says Minister Bruins Slot of the Interior. According to the minister, the voting process will become “more robust” with the changes.
The changes are laid down in a law that came into effect on 1 January this year. New is, among other things, the so-called ‘central counting of votes’, which municipalities could opt for in the design. In addition, a polling station only counts per party list tomorrow on election night, so that there is a faster picture of a result. A day later, Thursday, the votes will be counted again and the votes per candidate will also be counted.
Previously, there was only a ‘decentralized counting’, which means that polling stations sometimes count per list and candidate until well into the night, which is then checked by the municipal polling station the next day.
Recounting could be easier
The rules for applying for recounts are therefore also changing. Previously, these were only done if there was a suspicion that counting errors had been made that influenced the distribution of seats. What is now new is that the overarching central electoral committee can raise the alarm with the municipal electoral committee even in the event of minor errors and reports from voters, which can then conduct an investigation or recount and make corrections where necessary.
For example, a reason for further investigation into a result could be an unexplained difference between the number of voters and the number of ballot papers counted. Other possible reasons are a remarkably high percentage of blank votes (3 percent or higher) or a result of a polling station that differs greatly from the municipal average.
The counting and recounting of votes can be followed by anyone who wants to, emphasize Bruins Slot and the Electoral Council. “Anyone can come and watch the counting of the votes,” says the minister. “And the results of the counts are also published on the internet. So people can also see what exactly has been written down and what the details are. They can check all that.”
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