Morning voter turnout better than four years ago; Almelo polling places opened late

At 10:30 a.m., the turnout for the Provincial Council election stood at 8 percent, according to research by Ipsos for broadcaster NOS. Most polling stations opened without issue. But in Almelo, half of the polling stations opened late because they didn’t have the red pencils required for filling out your ballot.

During the Provincial Council elections four years ago, the voter turnout was 7 percent at around 10:30 a.m. The total turnout in 2019 was 56 percent - higher than in previous provincial elections.

The elections got off to a bumpy start in Almelo. About half of the polling stations opened late because they didn’t have the red pencils voters use to complete their ballots or the locks for the ballot boxes, RTV Oost reported.

“There was a small logistical problem,” Rudy van der Linde, chairman of the polling stations in Almelo, told the broadcaster. The necessary equipment was distributed among polling stations last night. “That went wrong this time,” he said. The missing pencils and locks reached their destination around 8:00 a.m., and the polling stations opened around half an hour later than planned.