Have you already received the orange envelope?
Have you, like me, registered as a Dutch citizen abroad with the Municipality of The Hague in order to participate in the elections to the House of Representatives on 15 March? Then you have also received the orange envelope containing the voting documents, haven't you?
However, I belong to an apparently large group of candidate voters who do not yet have the envelope in question. Of course that is not possible, I also want my democratic right to vote.
Interim injunction
Eelco Keij, number 39 on the D'66 candidate list, sounds the alarm, because there are too many people who have not yet received an orange envelope. In several newspapers it is reported that he even wants to institute summary proceedings against the State to move the submission deadline to March 15 (date of postmark) at the latest. Read the article from the Algemeen Dagblad here: www.ad.nl/expats-dreigen-met-rechtszaak-om-stemmatten~ae132c54
Contact
Eelco, who used to live in New York as an expat himself, says that he wants to work for Dutch people abroad. Very commendable for us of course, by which I do not mean voting advice, mind you!
Problem, that I am with him at the moment, that his website is not available, because - I get to read on the screen - no secure connection can be established. You can still reach him via his e-mail [email protected]
Record number registered
This year, a record number of 77.500 voters registered to vote from abroad on March 15. Nearly 2012 people registered in the 48.000 elections.
The total number of Dutch expats and pensioners is much higher: there are half a million registered compatriots who have left the Netherlands, but the actual number is even higher.
Municipality of The Hague
The municipality of The Hague reacts coolly to the threat of summary proceedings. According to a spokesman, everything is going according to plan. Most of the orange envelopes have been sent, 28 ballots were sent on February 2000, the last 3 will follow on March 2000.
Embassy
The big question now is: how do you get it back in time? I will hand in my ballot paper at the polling station in the Embassy Bangkok on March 15, because the session is public and accessible to everyone. If you come too, please bring your passport.
Received and completed the documents and handed them in personally at the embassy.
Every vote counts.
The last 2000 sent on March 3?????
I also have not received anything yet and other Dutch people around me, nothing yet, then it is very coincidental that those 2000 are exactly Thailand travelers.
we wait,
But maybe it is wise to send a lot of orange envelope to all embassies, so that you can bring your ballot there and put it in an orange envelope.
Greetings Nico
It would also have been easier if they had done everything via DigiD, but apparently the government is not yet that far with 21st century technology such as the internet.
Totally agree! The government does not trust its own DigiD to cast a vote? If necessary, it would be easy to build in an extra control option based on DigiD.
After everything came too late in 3 previous elections, I now got everything on time and my ballot paper is already at the embassy in Bangkok.
I don't understand why the orange envelopes can't be sent out early enough for everyone to get them on time.
The orange envelopes have been sent on time, the ballot that is sent separately has been delayed. This has to do with a summary judgment brought by rejected parties that were not allowed to participate in the elections.
I received everything on time and after completion, etc., forwarded to Bangkok, our embassy that will take care of the counts. I sometimes agree that it is a bad thing if there are Dutch people who cannot cast their vote because of this and are deprived of their right to vote. This should not happen again in 2017.
The registration went well.
Received the confirmation after a while, but the famous (infamous?) orange envelope never materialized.
I expressed my dissatisfaction by e-mail and received the coveted envelope in the mailbox last week (after 14 days).
Leo Bosch.
Isn't it ridiculous, that is asking for trouble to send the papers so late and then they have to send them back. Conclusion many will not have received anything and many will be late. Of course you can say people can travel to Bangkok and have it at to the Embassy. But for many that will be a problem. We live in a digital age, but the government does not. And of course there will be people who disagree with this, but that is allowed. But that is not how you treat your citizens.And a better and easier way must be found, so that everyone who wants to can vote.
Received the orange envelope neatly at the end of last week, filled it out and sent it to the embassy this week, live near Prawet, but as Corretje says sometimes letters do not arrive, I have also experienced this
We received the envelopes well in time and sent the orange envelope with a completed ballot paper in the enclosed white envelope to the embassy in Bangkok 2 weeks ago. We assume that the Embassy has properly sent the orange envelope with ballot paper to the Netherlands. Although we have been living in Thailand for 9 years, we will always remain Dutch and hope that things will go well there politically. Who we voted for …………….. Yes, that is private,
We also received the Orange envelopes neatly and well in time, after which everything was neatly filled in and sent to the Embassy in Bangkok.
Haven't received the envelope yet. Have already sent 2 emails. with usual reference to the website. .Very very slow
Already received my orange envelope 10 days ago
and is probably already at the embassy.
Maybe it has something to do with the party
you vote :-)
I received this email yesterday
Over the past few days, the Elections Unit of the Municipality of The Hague has received several questions from voters outside the Netherlands about their ballot papers. We deduce from this that there are questions about the procedure. With this e-mail we try to provide the answers.
You have registered as a voter abroad. You may not have received your voting papers yet. Please refer to https://www.denhaag.nl/home/bewoners/to/Feiten-en-cijfers-kiezers-buiten-Nederland.htm or to the Elections unit ([email protected] or +31703534400).
You still have time to cast your vote. Your voting papers must be received by the postal voting office no later than March 15 at 15.00:XNUMX PM local time.
It is important that you send your vote to the postal voting office as soon as possible, i.e. as soon as you have received your voting papers. The address of the postal voting office to which you should send your vote is stated on the orange envelope you receive from the municipality of The Hague. Depending on where you are staying, this is the postal voting office at the embassy in your country (https://www.denhaag.nl/home/bewoners/to/Tot-wanneer-u-kunt-stemmen-als-Nederlander-in-het-buitenland.htm) or the postal voting office in The Hague.
If the address of the postal voting office in The Hague is on your orange envelope, you can send the voting documents directly there as soon as possible.
It is also possible to send your voting documents to embassies or consulates that are not postal voting bureaus. You can do this by replacing the address of the postal voting office of the municipality of The Hague on the orange envelope with the address of the embassy or consulate in the country where you are staying. You can also bring your voting documents within the opening hours of the embassy or consulate general. Before you do the above, we request that you contact the Dutch embassy or a consulate in the country in which you are staying.
The embassy or consulate general will estimate when they need to receive your voting papers and deliver them to the postal voting office in The Hague before Wednesday 15 March 2017, 15:00 PM. The addresses of embassies and consulates can be found here: https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/ambassades-consulaten-en-overige-vertegenwoordigingen/inhoud
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is currently using courier companies as planned to forward your voting documents from these embassies and consulates to The Hague.
Yours sincerely,
Tom Brown
Crazy mayor
On their behalf,
Gerjan Wilkens
Unit Elections
I have received the envelope and have now sent it. I had chosen to receive the ballot by email. That gave me enough time to cast my vote.
Apart from this, it is of course scandalous that many Dutch people abroad cannot exercise their right to vote because of delays in sending ballot papers.
In addition, voters abroad only influence the composition of the second chamber anyway, for the upper chamber, which is elected in stages through the provincial council elections, our vote does not count at all.
Received the envelope with 2 others in this envelope already 6 weeks ago. Waited for the list of candidates that was delivered via email/digid. After printing this I sent the orange envelope in the envelope addressed to the embassy by registered mail and I assume that it also arrived there. So my vote will not be lost. And that is worth 38 baht to me.
Good to hear that things are going well.
Our votes may be lost!
Like others, I had to submit the application to receive the documents in Thailand before the due date. How is it possible that you already received everything 6 weeks ago and I received the following message on March 3 upon inquiry with my municipality?
I have just had contact with the municipality of The Hague.
They told me that the documents for you and Mrs Balvers were sent to Thailand last Tuesday.
So it may not have arrived with you yet.
Assuming you receive the documents one of these days; the following advice (received from the employee of The Hague).
Normally, the postal vote is sent back to the Netherlands, where it must be received before 15 March.
But because mail from and to Thailand can take a long time to travel, you may also send your postal vote to the Dutch embassy in Bangkok.
This must therefore be in there before the 15th. But the mail from Chiang Mai to Bangkok takes less time to travel.
I sincerely hope that this will work, because unfortunately I cannot help you further.
Poor organization?
WHY NOT JUST VIA 'DIGID'
We live in a digital modern world after all.
Or are they lagging behind in The Hague
Your vote is secret if you voted via DigiId people would be able to see which party you voted for.
It seems to me that extra security can be built into DigiD, but yes, government and digital, remains difficult….
also not received. sent an email yesterday for a replacement voter's certificate...
Received this time, but I don't know if it arrived at the Dutch Embassy. sent with ems.
I just authorized someone in NL and he received a power of attorney through The Hague in good time, so my voice will be heard hhh
I just received my orange envelope, but at my PO Box address.
Could that have something to do with it?
Maybe the orange envelopes have been sent, but they just don't arrive in Thailand.
At my home address I do not receive bills from the Internet or telephone half the time.
On the other hand, I don't receive copies of National Geographic half the time at my PO Box address.
Seems like a less efficient functioning of the Thai Post.
It also seems to me that the dysfunction of the Thai Post is to blame, too many mail items never arrive and just disappear.
Fortunately, this time I had received everything in plenty of time and was able to post it to the Dutch Embassy in Bangkok already 2 weeks ago.
I printed out the ballot paper and the orange envelope arrived in this remote corner (Narathiwat) at my home address just in time. The embassy should have it by now, although unfortunately I will not be allowed to receive confirmation of this.
My partner and I have received a registration number. My partner has still not received a ballot and emailed about it, a new ballot would be sent to date, nothing received yet. I did receive the ballot and mailed the orange envelope at the post office with a stamp after I had to show my passport to buy a stamp…. I was surprised about this but the postman told me that this was a new rule...... has anyone else had this experience?
27-2-2017 received and sent to the Embassy….
Voted a few weeks ago and sent via EMS from the Pasang post office to the Dutch embassy in Bangkok.
Tomorrow my 90 day report will be mailed for the umpteenth time to immigration Chiangmai.
Jan Beute.
Today, March 6, unfortunately still not received the orange envelope.