Here’s a concise explanation of how votes are counted in the Netherlands, focusing on the Tweede Kamerverkiezingen process and the typical workflow across the four counting levels. Direct answer

• The counting happens in four stages: at the stembureau (polling station), at the gemeente (municipal) level by combining the papers from all polling stations, at the hoofdstembureau (head polling station) per kieskring, and finally at the centraal stembureau (central counting office) which oversees the national outcome. The process includes both hand-counting on paper and secure digital reporting between levels, with openness for observers at every stage. Public access is ensured via the local and central authorities, and the final landelijk (national) result is announced after all levels have completed their tallies.

• In the stemlokalen, ballots are counted on paper. Each stembureau determines the validity of ballots and records the results on a process-verbaal (official report). If errors are found, counts can be repeated, and any re-counts are documented in the process-verbaal. Observers may be present as long as counting is not disrupted.

• Municipal authorities aggregate all polling-station results within their gemeente to produce a gemeentelijke uitslag (municipal result) and then transmit both paper and digital records to the hoofdstembureau. The hoofdstembureaus collect these results and tally per party and per candidate for their kieskring, announcing the results in a public session.

• The national-level result is compiled by the centraal stembureau from the data provided by all hoofdstembureaus. The Kiesraad oversees the process and publishes the overall seat distribution (zetelverdeling) based on the nationwide tallies. The official landelijk-resultaat is announced after all regional tallies are complete.

• The vote is still a form of indirect representation: after votes are counted, the distribution of seats is calculated to determine which parties win seats in the Tweede Kamer, using the applicable method (including the kiesdeler and apportionment rules). The exact mechanics of seat allocation are explained by electoral authorities and election information sites.

• Practical details you might encounter if you participate or observe:
  • Voting itself is done with paper ballots, and counting is visible to observers in the stembureau.

* Ballots are counted and the results are transmitted to higher authorities through formal procedures; USB storage is not used for transmitting results from the polling stations.

* Municipalities publish the individual process-verbal records online, allowing public scrutiny of the counts at the local level.

If you’d like, I can tailor this explanation to a specific election year or provide a step-by-step checklist for observers, including the exact roles of each counting body and the documents involved at each stage.