Wednesday, 19 March 2014 - 12:37
Voter selfies trend: stemfie
This election may be suffering from low voter-turnout, but that doesn't mean those who didn't vote already didn't have any fun doing it. This year, selfies at the municipal council elections has been officially okayed.
A new phenomenon has erupted this election Wednesday, the voter selfie, or 'stemfie' as it is now known in Dutch. Voters enter the booth, choose a candidate, and then take a picture of themselves. Add a filter and the stemfie is born.
Everyone's in on it. So much so that Minister Ronald Plasterk (Internal Affairs) got involved, saying he doesn't think it's a problem if people say they voted on Facebook or Twitter. He has officially entered it into the voting hand-guide. "Voters can take photos of themselves, if this doesn't hinder the course of the voting", the minister said.
Meanwhile, the Twitterati has been very busy with their stemfies.
Omdat het mag van Plasterk. #stemfie #selfie @ JP Coenschool http://t.co/aAzporTLQG
— Robin K. (@MyAlterEgoist) March 19, 2014
Gestemd #stemfie pic.twitter.com/MPDRaGet8d
— Mark Mulder (@markmulder82) March 19, 2014