Brussels residents will soon be able to choose their polling station for the 2024 municipal elections.
On Tuesday, the Brussels Parliament's Home Affairs Committee gave the green light to a draft ordinance which will digitise the entire electoral procedure ahead of the local elections on 13 October 2024.
The most significant change will be that Brussels residents will be able to choose which polling station they cast their vote in, as long as it is located within their municipality.
"Digitising the entire voting procedure means that voters can go to the polling station of their choice," said Bernard Clerfayt, Brussels Minister for Local Authorities, who proposed the ordinance.
"I'm thinking in particular of those who are voting via proxy for someone else. They will no longer have to go to different polling stations."
Time and cost-effective
While electronic voting has been the norm across the Brussels Region since the 2018 elections, the Brussels Municipal Electoral Code will further modernise the electoral process by digitising a series of extra procedures.
This includes centralising the electronic tallying of voters, allowing them to be counted via a central database in a process that will smooth movement through the polling station, save paper, and simplify the task of supervisors.
Communal elections are held to appoint the local council, including the mayor and councillors. They are always held on the second Sunday of October every six years.
In the 2018 local elections, the absentee rate was 16.47% – down from 2012 but still higher than the region would like. Legislators hope that the changes will improve voter participation.
