Municipality of Rijssen-Holten: voting in municipal elections

How does voting work in elections?

- You will receive your polling card no later than two weeks before the election.
- Take your polling card and a valid form of ID with you to the polling station. A passport, identity card or driving licence are all valid forms of ID. Your ID must not have expired for more than five years.
At the polling station, hand in your polling card. Also show your ID to the polling station official.
- At the polling station, you will be given a ballot paper. This lists all the parties standing in the election. It also lists all the candidates you can vote for.
- Take the ballot paper with you into the voting booth. Voting is secret. The voting booths in the polling station are positioned so that no one can see who you are voting for. Only people with a physical disability may receive assistance in the voting booth.
- Using a red pencil, colour in the circle next to the name of the person you wish to vote for.
- You can also leave the ballot paper blank. This is called casting a blank vote.
- Fold the ballot paper so that no one can see your choice.
- You then place the ballot paper in the ballot box.

Casting a blank vote

If you do not wish to choose a candidate but still want to exercise your right to vote, you can cast a blank vote. You will still go into the voting booth, but you will not select a candidate. You therefore do not fill in anything on the ballot paper.

Your blank vote has no influence on the distribution of seats. A blank vote or an uncast vote therefore does not go to the largest party. A blank vote does, however, count towards determining the turnout for the election.

Incorrectly completed ballot paper or mistake

When voting, you may select one candidate per ballot paper by shading the corresponding box red. If you colour in more than one box or draw or colour anything on the ballot paper, your ballot paper will be invalid. Your vote will then only count towards the turnout figure. Have you accidentally invalidated your ballot paper or made a mistake? In that case, you may ask for a new ballot paper once.