The residents of the Alveringem sub-municipalities of Stavele and Beveren have to do something to be able to cast their vote today. At the polling station in the Stavele district, voting has only been possible since… 10 am, two hours later than normal!
The Stavele polling station was able to start up with great delay. It was not about a breakdown that lasted ten minutes, but the computers that could not start for two hours. The church tower struck 10 o’clock when chairman Patrick Firey was finally able to call “that the first seven people were allowed to enter.”
“This is very unfortunate for both lists,” said Linda Verhaeghe from Beveren of the STEM innovation list that had been waiting for a long time. “I have already seen people here who really wanted to vote but were pressed for time and had to leave without doing anything because they could not return. That’s a shame.”
Half an hour
Tierry Wullen from Beveren also lost quite a bit of time this morning to cast his vote: “I was here at 8:30 am, waited a while, then went shopping at butcher Johan in Leisele and now I’m here again for half an hour. But I want to vote, yes. So I wait.”
Chairs were gradually placed in the entrance of the community hall for the slightly older people. This made the long wait a little more pleasant.
“I dropped off my wife who was on duty at 7:30 am,” says Marc Glorie from Beveren. “I thought I could vote at 8 o’clock, but I have been waiting for almost two hours… But I believe there is now light at the end of the tunnel.”
The older ladies Lena Vereecke, Rita Vandepitte and Magda Derouck from Beveren also persevered. Magda wants to go to mass in Beveren at 11 o’clock and Rita says that she just promised her cousin today to help out in the potato field from 10 o’clock…
The Beveren residents also include a young family with 3 children between 5 years and 5 months. “We were here at 8:30 am and stayed,” responds Peter Deneulin. “The two eldest play outside, I settled inside with our 5-month-old baby. And we chat with our fellow citizens. It is a social event.”
Lots of patience
The elderly lady Marie-Jeanne Beghein from Stavele and her husband also showed a lot of patience today to be able to cast their vote. They waited for more than an hour and a half… “The call letter states that as a voter you should go to the polling station quite early,” Marie-Jeanne responds with a faint smile… But we sit there and have a chat with the other people waiting. It’s not fun, but there are worse things.”
