In 38 municipalities across Flanders people will be able to vote on 9 June by presenting a digital election invite at their polling place.
In Tienen (Flemish Brabant) and 37 other municipalities you can leave your paper election invite at home and present the invite sent to your ebox on your mobile. The ebox is a digital mailbox containing messages from a host of Belgian authorities and government bodies.
While many people are keeping a close eye on their letterbox to see if their election card has arrived people in the 38 participating municipalities can download their election card from their ebox. The election card invites you to the ballot and tells you which polling place you need to attend. It’s handy to present it when you go to vote, but not essential.
‘We are participating in the pilot project “Municipality without a Town Hall”. Together with the Flemish authorities we are looking at how we can digitise our services and make them more accessible. We want to ensure that people don’t have to come to the town hall as much as they used to,’ says Tienen mayor Katrien Partyka.
‘The digital election card is part of that and makes it easier for citizens to go and vote digitally,’ Ms Partyka says. ‘Of course, you can still vote using the paper election card. Nowadays we do a lot on our smartphones. We buy movie tickets. We pay using our phones and now you can also show your digital election card by using your phone.’
These are the Flemish municipalities where you can also vote using a digital election invite: Aalst, Affligem, Antwerp, Beringen, Bertem, Boechout, Borgloon, Bruges, Deerlijk, Diest, Geel, Ghent, Harelbeke, Hasselt, Houthalen-Helchteren, Knokke-Heist, Kortrijk, Leuven, Lier, Maldegem, Mechelen, Mortsel, Nijlen, Ninove, Ostend, Oudsbergen, Puurs-Sint-Amands, Ronse, Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Tervuren, Tongeren, Vilvoorde, Waregem, Wevelgem, Zemst and Zwevegem.