Sunday, May 26th, 2pm: I am on my way to vote in the European elections.
It takes me five minutes to get to the polling station on foot. It has been set up in one of the classrooms the local primary school, as usual. Three election assistants sitting at a somewhat battered school desks greet me, ask for my voter documents and then hand me my ballot.
There are two other people in line ahead of me, so I have to wait a little. This is somewhat absurd, I think: More than 500 million citizens are voting today in the second-largest election on this planet, and I’m standing here in a small classroom, surrounded by art works of school children. But I’m doing something really important: with my vote, I'm supposed to decide what will happen with and in the EU for the next five years.
One of the polling cabins frees up, I make my cross on the ballot and put it in the box - I had decided beforehand which party I would vote for. So after five minutes, I'm standing outside again and start making my way back home. Five minutes to get to the polling station, five minutes of voting, five minutes back home - 15 minutes of being sovereign. And now?
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