In the queue for voting in Blijdorp, Rotterdam residents passed flamingos and a Komodo dragon

In the Rotterdam district of Carnisse, the celebration of democracy is not experienced by a large number of residents. Word artist Mich Simon, whose production company serves as a polling agency, came up with a solution: music. A disc jockey would come by, and the DJ set was already ready diagonally opposite the voting booths.

Things turned out differently, says Simon, better known by his stage name YMP. The regulations for polling stations did not allow music.

At exactly 12.15 pm, Mayor Carola Schouten’s dark blue official car turns into the street. “I heard that you handled it fantastically,” says Schouten, who was met at the door of the polling station by several artists from the production house. “I was promised a deejay.”

“We were called back by the chairman,” laughs Simon.

This does not deter the enthusiasm on the sidewalk in front of the polling station. There, the city marine (an official who promotes safety and quality of life in a neighborhood) Muzaffer Yuksekyildiz reminds everyone who walks by of their civic duty – from the neighbor who has just returned from shopping to the garbage collectors who empty the waste container.

“We know,” says Yuksekyildiz, “that this is one of the neighborhoods where people vote the least. That is why we are stepping up.”

Rise

Schouten drove past polling stations all day Wednesday. In a moss green suit and white sneakers, she arrived just before nine o’clock in the morning at the House of the District in her own district of Delfshaven, where she has been voting in every election for twenty years.

Elections in Rotterdam have one certainty: the turnout percentage is invariably considerably lower than the national average. In 2023, 64.2 percent of eligible Rotterdam residents voted, compared to 77.7 percent nationally. In some neighborhoods, especially on the city’s south bank, no more than 20 percent showed up.

This is the time to influence matters that may directly affect you

To increase the percentage, Rotterdam residents could cast their votes on Wednesday at special locations: in Sparta Stadium ‘Het Kasteel’, in Diergaarde Blijdorp, the Wereldmuseum, the Mevlana Mosque and on a radar boat.

“I can imagine,” Schouten told journalists after she had cast her vote, that “people sometimes have other things on their minds. But I hope that people also realize that it is so important to make your voice heard. This is the time to influence matters that may affect you directly.”

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Flamingos

In Diergaarde Blijdorp, where voting was possible for the first time, they had to make little effort to convince Rotterdam residents. Special rates apply for children and adults on this day. That seems to be having an effect: three hundred people have already voted by mid-morning.

“Follow the signs with the Red Panda to the voting location,” reads a sign at the entrance. The path leads past a pool of flamingos and then through the monumental Riviera Hall, with a Komodo dragon behind the glass that normally stays behind closed doors and cannot be admired by the public.

The scaly crowd-puller seems to be a hit: the waiting time in the queue, which runs through the heated complex, is half an hour mid-morning. “I have already voted,” Schouten apologizes as she passes the waiting people.

The number 12 on JA21’s list says to the camera of ‘Heart of the Netherlands‘ Delighted that he voted for himself

At the polling station, the employees behind the table swipe the QR codes on the voting cards along the conveyor belt through the scanner. The day before they had installed a fourth voting booth. Not an unnecessary luxury, as it turns out. The turnout, says a spokesperson for the zoo, “has far exceeded expectations.”

“Are you still holding on?” Schouten asks, laughing.

While a man struggles to unfold the lengthy ballot paper in the voting booth, volunteers in green vests take selfies with the mayor. Number 12 on JA21’s list says to the camera Heart of the Netherlands delighted that he voted for himself.

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In the meantime, the container where the ballots end up is filling up a lot faster than expected. “Shall I text you right away?” asks Schouten, who is kept informed about the elections by a municipal coordinator. A few minutes later she receives an answer: an extra ballot box is on its way to the zoo.

To survive

It is a turnout that they in Carnisse can only dream of. Every now and then voters trickle in and the volunteers don’t need the ballot box tamper. The chairman of the polling station looks at a stack of boxes with ballots. “I don’t think we’re going to empty them.”

It is, says Simon, the owner of the production house, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Rotterdam. “People are not concerned with voting, but mainly with surviving.”

Residents regularly present themselves without a voting card or ID. “If we had a voting card for them here,” says city marine Yuksekyildiz, “I think we would have had twenty extra voters. That is 30 percent.” Another had said to him: I will vote tomorrow.

The question, says Simon, is how we can better reach this group of residents. “We were actually making plans for the municipal elections in six months’ time on March 18, when these elections got in the way. So we will arrange things better in March. Then I will also have a barbecue.”

“Have you voted yet, sir?” Yuksekyildiz asks a woman passing by.

“I wanted to vote,” she says, “but I lost the letter.”

Can happen, says Yuksekyildiz. “We’ll be back on March 18th, so keep it safe.”

With the collaboration of Sheila Kamerman

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