During the provincial elections, the polling stations in Drenthe will receive extra staffing. Forty volunteers with an intellectual disability help in the polling station. They received special training for this.
“Good afternoon, I’m here to vote.” Judith Ros walks into the practice voting office in a room at the provincial government building. She is one of the volunteers who will help during the elections on 15 March. “I only have my driver’s license with me, is that okay?”
Ros was taught about the elections together with the other volunteers for a day. ‘What is a Member of Parliament? What does the province do? And how do the elections work?’ All questions that came up.
The volunteers go to work at the polling stations together with a supervisor. It is an initiative of the Prokkel foundation, which brings together organizations and people with an intellectual disability. “Of course it’s great that everyone can be a volunteer,” says Myriam Bouchikhi. She is involved in the project on behalf of STERKplaats Assen. “That you are welcome and can be valuable even if you have not had a high education.”
Meanwhile, Ros unfolds a ballot paper in the voting booth. “What I’m going to vote for remains a secret, but I already know!” She did the StemWijzer for this and received advice from a well-informed expert. “I interviewed Jetta Klijnsma, Commissioner of the King, for my Youtube channel ‘Through the eye of an autist’. She also says that voting is very important.”
During the elections, Ros is ready at the polling station in De Nieuwe Kolk in Assen. “I’m looking forward to that. Then I’ll check everything. And if there’s a long queue, they just wait a while.”