Amsterdam expects to use 600,000 red pencils in municipal election

Amsterdam has 600,000 red pencils, spread over almost 600 polling stations, ready for voters coming to cast their votes in the municipal election on Wednesday. About 5,500 polling station workers are staffing the locations to check voting passes, count votes, and make sure everything runs smoothly, NH Nieuws reports.

A total of 688,575 are eligible to vote. They have 26 parties to choose from. The turnout for the 2018 municipal elections was 52.2 percent.

In addition to electing municipal council members, Amsterdam residents can also vote for district committees today. A total of 727,814 Amsterdam residents can cast this ballot because Amsterdammers are allowed to vote for their district committee from age 16. 

Polling stations are open until 9:00 p.m.