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11/1 Jurists want to stay in Oudemanhuispoort

8/2 Mayor’s portrait

8/2 Websites for social cohesion

7/2 Spreading tourism proceeds with difficulty

7/2 GroenLinks on districts: Be a man

6/2 Zuideramstel opens new office on Sabbath

5/2 The truth about integration

4/2 Wilders has little support on Amsterdam

3/2 Elite involved in neighbourhood

2/2 Johnnie Walker avoids taxes in Amsterdam

1/2 Rotterdam to tinker with district councils as well

31/1 Wooden rowing boats to disappear from Amstel

31/1 ZeeburgTV launched

27/1 Privacy activists to mess up loyalty card system

27/1 A few were still coughing, but that was an act

27/1 Chrisis in de Baarsjes

26/1 Youth have positive view of districts

24/1 Action groups call for Carmel and Jaffa boycott

24/1 PvdA members dismiss plan for districts

23/1 KLM takes on crisis with new uniform

23/1 District office not squatted

21/1 Merge districts

20/1 Closing squat bar Vrankrijk not necessary

20/1 Cleaners welcome new Schiphol director

18/1 Palestine at the Jewish Historical Museum

18/1 What is the right size for a district?

17/1 PvdA Oost against fewer districts

16/1 Committee: 7 districts by 2010

15/1 Soldiers may attend Afghanistan debate after all

15/1 Bait bike leads to arrest

14/1 Youth for Christ to republish vacancies

13/1 Paintings of the Zuidas

13/1 New Youth for Christ contoversy

11/1 Social cohesion initiative raises eyebrows

10/1 Fewer districts in 2010

10/1 Zuidas: People feel that we are losers

9/1 Fun on the ice - but not for all

9/1 Supermarket coupon fraud thwarted

9/1 I Amsterdam must remain exclusive

8/1 Use term Apartheid in every discussion

8/1 No city kiosk in Amsterdam yet

7/1 Snow

7/1 Fatima Elatik to run Zeeburg

7/1 Municipal managers to return to shop floor

4/1 Police: take photo of strange people

3/1 Gaza protest criticises politicians

1/1 Thousands to protest against attacks on Gaza

1/1 Mustapha Laboui leaves district council

 

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‘Have voting machine tested’

18 October 2006 – Activist Rop Gonggrijp wants to test the voting machines that are used in Amsterdam. He has the support of coalition party GroenLinks and perhaps the PvdA as well, it was announced tonight at a debate at de Balie. Gonggrijp is concerned that citizens will lose their confidence in democracy because of faulty voting machines.

Recently, Gonggrijp (photo), in collaboration with the TV programme Eén Vandaag, by devious means managed to obtain a few Nedap voting machines and to prove that they can be manipulated quite easily. Also, the secrecy of the ballot is not safe with these machines. Amsterdam uses Sdu voting machines, that have never been tested properly.

Gonggrijp and his organisation ‘We do not trust voting machines’ have asked Mayor Job Cohen to make an Sdu voting machine available for testing. Tonight, council member Jeanine van Pinxteren (green party GroenLinks) announced that she supports the idea. Sabina Gazic (Social-Democrat PvdA) did not commit herself yet: “I am trying to stir up the debate”.

‘We do not trust voting machines’ expects that the Nedap machines will disappear in the foreseeable future, if only because they are obsolete and not being developed anymore. It is feared that Sdu will try to take its place surreptitiously.

The campaign has resulted in Secretary of State Atzo Nicolai setting up a committee that will investigate the problem of the voting machines. In Ireland, the introduction of voting machines seems to be on hold, partly because people were shocked that Dutch activists had managed to hack a Nedap voting machine.

On 22 November, ‘We do not trust voting machines’ will organise a bus trip to Zoeterwoude, where pencils are still used for voting. Amsterdammers who want to join must apply for a voters’ pass allowing them to vote outside of Amsterdam by 8 November at the latest.

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