Wrong key, missing pencils among hiccups at polling stations

Most of the some 9,200 polling stations opened smoothly and on time on the last day of voting in the 2021 parliamentary election on Wednesday, though there were a few that faced some start-up problems.

Barendrecht had the most problems, with 20 out of its 24 polling stations opening late, Rijnmond reports. The register list that shows everyone who had already voted was missing. The polling stations had to send voters away until the list was tracked down.

A polling station in Haarlem opened two hours later than planned, because the municipality had provided the wrong key for the ballot box. "We had to refer at least 20 people to another location," a volunteer told NH Nieuws. The station volunteers discovered the mistake at around 7:00 a.m. when they tried to unlock the ballot box to make sure it was empty and ready for the new day of voting. The polling station eventually opened at around 9:30 a.m. after the municipality tracked down and delivered the right key.

The municipality of Arnhem also had a blunder result in a polling station opening late. The municipality forgot to have pencils delivered to the polling station. "There should have been a box of pencils ready, but there was none," a spokesperson told Omroep Gelderland. Pencils were delivered later and waiting voters were referred to other local polling offices.