An American school bus drove through the municipality of Haarlemmermeer all day long. People from the municipality could cast their votes on the bus. The bus visited three locations in total today.
In the morning the bus started at the Nieuw-Vennep train station, in the afternoon it drove to the Halfweg-Zwanenburg and Hoofddorp train stations, where the volunteers called it a day at eight o’clock. The idea was to give people the opportunity to vote easily during their journey to and from home.
According to the chairman of the polling station, Nathalie Goudsmit, that mission has been more than successful: “So many people have already let us know how great they think it is that they will not have to leave home anymore. And there are many who actually already thought no longer have time to vote, but this is still possible by bus.
Voter stuffing
The originally American school bus is usually rented out for weddings, among other things, but today it was converted into a polling station. Just take out a number of benches, put in a table for the volunteers, add a single voting booth and of course a ballot box and off you go.
Small but nice, according to Goudsmit: “Besides making it easier for voters, it is also a happening, of course. It is quite different from a village hall or sports club.” This opinion is shared by travelers who use the bus: “Yes, I think it’s great. I wasn’t sure whether I would get to Amsterdam on time, so it was one less thing to worry about.”