Twitter is therefore exploding with complaints. Twitterers send screenshots of the text messages stating that their votes don’t count. The AVROTROS refers for a response to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which co-organized the song contest. The EBU was unreachable for comment all morning.
One of the voters is Matty Linders. She loved the dance of Lithuania, Switzerland was fantastic and ‘the man in the hat from Portugal’ very beautiful.
“Normally I vote for one country. This time I liked them so much that I voted for all three, for 45 cents per vote. I hoped to mean something like that.” But those votes did not come through.
–
–
She only found out this morning. “I thought yesterday: the confirmation of my vote will probably come later. But this morning I saw that all three did not count. That is not so neat.”
While she voted in plenty of time, she says. “If it had been last minute, I can still imagine it. But I was clearly on time.”
–
–
Kees Joosten also received text messages this morning about invalid votes, he saw when he turned on his phone at 7.18 am. He voted nine times, well within the time limit. Especially in France, but also in Malta, San Marino and Bulgaria. Only three votes counted.
“Nice place, I thought when I saw it. The Eurovision Song Contest was fun, but I didn’t think the winning Italy had the most amazing song. And then you see that your votes didn’t even come through. My girlfriend and family had that too.”
–
–
He doesn’t want his money back. “It went through my head for a while. I paid 3 euros. That is stupid. But later I thought: let go. I wouldn’t know who to contact at all.”
He is curious where the money will hang. “And if it stays in Rotterdam, I think: fine, they worked hard. They did it so well, so great and so intensively.”
–
–
Karin van Captandum also voted often: twelve times for France. She got messages until 5am this morning. Seven votes were declared invalid. She does not need her money back. “For me it’s not about the money. I think it’s a shame if France could have won.”
Incidentally, the votes not counted would not affect the result if this only plays in the Netherlands, because the Netherlands gave the highest possible number of points to France, which finished in second place. But Karin thinks it is ‘very unfortunate’. “I think that’s a small blot on something great that the Netherlands has achieved.”
–
–
