bert hubert πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦
So tomorrow there are national elections in The Netherlands and I need to acquaint you with two oddities. For one, we take our democracy entirely for granted so we mostly vote in.. garbage bins. Secondly, our ballots are HUGE as they list 28 parties and 1128 candidates (no joke). So we need to make good use of the space in the garbage bin. For this purpose, polling stations are equipped with the STEMBUSSTAMPER, specially designed to tamp down wayward ballots:
Nov 21, 2023 at 4:20pmWeb
Show threadGinkelKarin πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦πŸŸ₯Nov 21, 2023
@bert_hubert counting votes (untill deep in the night)
Show threadTrash PandaNov 21, 2023
@bert_hubert
bruh
Show threadRalf StubnerNov 21, 2023
@bert_hubert How does one interact with these candidates? Can one vote for them individually?
The craziest thing I have seen in that regard are regional elections in Bavaria. If your local council has say 40 seats, you get 40 votes. You can just spend them on a single party, but you can also give individual candidates up to 3 votes, even from multiple parties. And if you don't want to give out all votes individually, you can give all the remaining votes to a party list. Typically takes several days to count properly ...
Show threadbert hubert πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦Nov 21, 2023
@rstub as noted by @helma the voting is rather simple. Dutch candidates are extraordinarily approachable. Also, many parties field 50 or 80 candidates even though they might only get 5 seats. Just in case ;-)
Show threadyour auntifa liza πŸ‡΅πŸ‡· πŸ¦› 🦦Nov 21, 2023
@bert_hubert @rstub @helma the parliamentary system is a democratically confusing mess but i'd rather have that than the bullshit elections we have here in USA
Show threadMadMatheMatikerNov 21, 2023
@rstub @bert_hubert 40 is still not the upper limit. For the Kreistag, you can have up to 70 seats (Munich), which results in up to 70 individual votes.
Show threadSuzanne β€˜bionic’ VeermanNov 21, 2023
@bert_hubert @kingannoy Indeed. Always in reach of the ballot box!
Show threadJoeNov 21, 2023
@bert_hubert That is a beautiful word!
Show threadhdv1Nov 21, 2023
@bert_hubert Great, so nearly everyone in the Netherlands is somewhere on some list.
Show threadGinkelKarin πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦πŸŸ₯Nov 21, 2023
@hdv1 @bert_hubert 🀣
Show threadannekekassteele πŸ₯‚Nov 21, 2023
@hdv1 thanks for making me laugh very loud
@bert_hubert
Show threadGinkelKarin πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦πŸŸ₯Nov 21, 2023

@bert_hubert i found a demoπŸ˜€

https://youtu.be/sdhZ5IbHzD8?feature=shared

Wat is een stembusstamper? | #shorts

YouTube
Show threadOuti 🦊🌱🌍🌈Nov 21, 2023
@bert_hubert With some elections, I wish I could have chucked the ballot into a bin and used the stembusstamper to help with my frustration πŸ˜…
Show threadJohn ConwayNov 21, 2023
@bert_hubert @Meyltje How many candidates can you vote for on a ballot?
Show threadMeyltje ∞ πŸ‹ πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆNov 21, 2023
@john @bert_hubert Just one!
Show threadJohn ConwayNov 21, 2023
@Meyltje @bert_hubert So is it the situation that anyone that want to be a candidate can get on the ballot?
Show threadMarcelNov 21, 2023
@john @Meyltje @bert_hubert No, the party decides who is on the ballot. If you want to be on the ballot, you have to be part of a party (or set up your own).
Show threadMeyltje ∞ πŸ‹ πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆNov 21, 2023
@john @bert_hubert No, the political parties decide on the official list of candidates. The party itself has to meet all kinds of requirements as well.
Show threadHein RagasNov 21, 2023
@john @bert_hubert @Meyltje Only one.
Show threadtemplatemakerNov 22, 2023
@john @bert_hubert @Meyltje Vote for or choose from to vote on?
Show threadJon TromansNov 21, 2023

@bert_hubert My new favourite word. STEMBUSSTAMPER.

Slipping that into conversations from now on πŸ˜‚

Show threadInthemakingNov 21, 2023
@bert_hubert oh wow, I once even counted the votes but had never heard of the stamper before!
Show threadbert hubert πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦Nov 21, 2023
@Inthemaking not all municipalities issue their polling stations with one I hear! But they are quite popular. You can boy one here ('price on request'): https://vbenvh.nl/verkiezingsshop/categorie/stembus/
Show threadRobert EdmondsNov 21, 2023
@bert_hubert that looks almost like a flessenschraper
Show threadbert hubert πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦Nov 21, 2023
@edmonds indeed! And it may have been an inspiration even. Who knows :-)
Show threadKate Nyhan is changing serversNov 21, 2023
@bert_hubert
I have no idea if this is true, but I'm not going to look it up, because then I can keep believing it might be true 😁
Show threadbert hubert πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦Nov 21, 2023
@kdnyhan it really is true! If you google stembusstamper you'll find various videos. Like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdhZ5IbHzD8
Wat is een stembusstamper? | #shorts

YouTube
Show threadThomas StockingerNov 21, 2023
@bert_hubert The garbage can as electoral urn is something I have seen in my native Austria, not without wondering that nobody seemed bothered at the symbolism. The matching ramrod is new to me...
Show threadSupportive Tree-based lifeformNov 21, 2023
@bert_hubert This feels like a shitpost but it seems absolutely genuine
Show threadbert hubert πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦Nov 21, 2023
@Basic_Bench It is!
Show threadbert hubert πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦Nov 21, 2023
@Basic_Bench this may be the biggest compliment I've ever received on Mastodon!! :-)
Show threadChristel van der BoomNov 21, 2023
@bert_hubert 1128 candidates, and yet the choice was easy!
Show threadJeroen van der Ham-de VosNov 21, 2023
@bert_hubert you know what fits perfectly in that slot? The yellow sign that points to a "stemlokaal". Made good use of that last few elections.
Show threadbert hubert πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦Nov 21, 2023
@1sand0s epic hack ;-)
Show threadJosNov 21, 2023
@bert_hubert This should become the β€œWord of the Year 2023”. Please nominate it at https://woordvanhetjaar.vandale.nl/nl
Van Dale trekt de Woord van het Jaar-verkiezing 2024 in Nederland terug

Show threadAutoerotic DefenestrationNov 21, 2023
@bert_hubert in Germany, we use garbage bins too :-)
Show threadTransitBikerNov 21, 2023
@bert_hubert what a fitting way to carry out democracy
Show threadDaniel ReedersNov 22, 2023
@bert_hubert can you acquaint me with the oddity that is polls showing Geert Wilders nearly winning?
Show threadbert hubert πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦Nov 22, 2023
@engagedpractx let's see how the results end up..
Show threadWanWizard 🏴󠁧󠁒󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 πŸ‡³πŸ‡±Nov 22, 2023
@bert_hubert @engagedpractx It looks like the Netherlands is moving quite a bit to the right. A very worrisome development...
Show threadStefanNov 22, 2023
@bert_hubert Just casted mine! Rob it is πŸ˜„
Show threadJoana de Castro ArnaudNov 22, 2023

@bert_hubert Needs electronic ballot. Urgently. Brazil is a good example:

https://international.tse.jus.br/en

Show threadChrist van WillegenNov 22, 2023
@jcastroarnaud
No, we kicked out electronic voting in 2006, for good reasons. The voting process is much less transparent if you only need to push a button to vote. Have you inspected the software? _CAN_ you inspect the software at all??
@bert_hubert