Aalten municipality recounts votes from polling station De Markerink

During the recount, it became apparent that during the initial count—on the evening of the elections—an error had been made when filling in the votes at candidate level. The votes for candidate 25, Arjan Tolkamp from Aalten (CDA), were accidentally entered for candidate 50. Because of this mistake, candidate Arjan Tolkamp received 53 fewer preferential votes than he should have.
The error came to light through reports from voters. They found it striking that no preferential votes had been cast for the Aalten candidate at De Markerink.

Recounts municipal polling place

The day after the elections, the municipal electoral committee of Aalten also convened. During that meeting, unexplained errors in the official reports per polling station were investigated. This is standard procedure.

Mayor Stapelkamp: "The case is that among the five polling stations where we investigated an unexplained error in the record was also De Markerink. Here we quickly found an addition error and did not look at the candidate lists anymore. As far as I am concerned, therefore, this is an important learning point. From now on, if there is an unexplained error in the minutes, we will always recount the votes at the candidate level as well."

The second recount on November 5 was also carried out by the municipal electoral committee of Aalten. The correction then only concerned the votes cast at the De Markerink polling station, and specifically the CDA candidate list. The procedure to be followed was always coordinated with the Electoral Council.

Seat distribution

It is not known whether the adjustment will affect Arjan Tolkamp's position on the list of candidates. However, the chance that this will lead to a seat in the Lower House is small. The final results of the election will be determined by the central electoral committee in The Hague on Friday, Nov. 7.

The municipality of Aalten regrets the error and emphasizes that care is always paramount in elections.