Amsterdam Labour party: More voting booths at vocational schools needed

The Amsterdam PvdA and the National Youth Council believe that there should be polling stations at more vocational high schools for the parliamentary elections on March 15th. As the plans stand so far, there will only be polling stations at ROC Amsterdam and ROC Top. Universities and academic high schools are somewhat better represented when it comes to polling stations in Amsterdam, AD reports.

There is usually a low turnout among student voters, according to the newspaper. The PvdA and Youth Council believe they will be more likely to vote if they don't have to travel out of their way to do so. As vocational schools in the city are very underrepresented when it comes to voting booths, the parties are focused on them. The National Youth Council launched the initiative "Polling station at each vocational school" on Monday.

This year 800 thousand young Dutch people can vote in their first parliamentary election, but on average a third of them won't vote. Among older voters it is only a fifth that don't make it to the polling stations.

Rotterdam and The Hague added two extra polling stations at vocational schools. The Amsterdam PvdA and Youth Council hope that the Dutch capital will follow suit.