Today, I received my official invitation to vote in the local government elections after having been unsure as to whether or not I would eventually be invited to do so. My excitement about voting has been building up slowly in the last few weeks, which has perhaps been perpetuated by the combination of willingly taking propaganda flyers during the Saturday farmer’s markets and learning Dutch.
I believe that I am now more motivated to vote than I ever have been in my entire life because I feel that the Gemeente (the city hall) has a real presence in my life. I have needed to let them know things like who I am and what kind of marital situation I have been in over the last two years, which has made me feel that there is a real connection between who is keeping tabs on us and, well, us. The act of registering one’s self at the city hall is unheard of in the United States. I have lived in six different municipalities in the US, and I have never once had to make it known to the authorities who I was. The only similar practice in the US to the Dutch registration process, that I know of, is updating your driver’s license each time you move residences across borders. However, I contend that the DMV does not liaise with other governmental bureaus to share information; rather one’s driver’s license is ensures only two things: 1) that you have paid your annual sticker fee in the correct state and 2) that a policeman or policewoman would be able to correctly identify that your driver’s license matches your plates. Apart from these checks, I can’t imagine that there would be any other ramifications to keeping your license current.
As for my choice in party (for the elections)? Currently, I am rooting for the D66. However, upon looking at their website, I realize that they largely represent the interests of students, who make up a sizeable portion of the Leiden population. This explains why the people who hand out the flyers on Saturday morning are always young and attractive, which, in turn, explains why I was so inclined to take their flyer in the first place. In fact, their’s was the only one that I read, which makes me feel like I haven’t done the proper research. I suppose that the right thing to do is to progressively make my way through all the information available to me before making an informed choice. I think local American politics could learn a great deal from the Dutch on this one.
Photo courtesy of pacificworlds.com
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