Courting the youth vote as Dutch head to the polls

In an effort to attract the almost 1.5 million young people (ages 18-24) in the Netherlands to vote, dozens of apps have cropped up over the current campaign season, which ends today as Dutch voters go to the polls to elect a new government.
With hours left to cast votes and one in five voters still undecided, it’s still not too late to turn to some of them for advice.
De Verkiezingen 2012-app, designed by Google for both Android and iPhones, bills itself as the first political election game for smart phones. It’s a memory game featuring all the Dutch political parties and their policies, with names, biographies and the viewpoints of the candidates. This free app is government funded, hoping to court the youth vote.
StemWijzer!—or Vote Right!—is an app in quiz form, providing potential voters with 30 statements with which they have to either agree, disagree or remain neutral. The issues range from retirement age to following Brussels-mandated budget deficits. Other examples: Should all coffee shops in the Netherlands be closed? Should the government be tougher on crime? After tallying your answers, the app advises you how to vote. Like most of these sites, you can share your results on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
Kies Wijs—or Choose right—outlines the positions of the 21 Dutch political parties—from nuclear power to animal rights to the euro.
And perhaps most appropriate for today is Exit Poll 2012 NL. This app is a mock election—not an official poll. But cast your vote anonymously and see how others are casting theirs. According to the latest Exit Poll 2012 NL stats, the Liberal VVD Party of Mark Rutte is way ahead of the pack, with almost 30 percent of the vote. The Labour Party is at 19 percent, Geert Wilders’ PVV Party is polling at 4 percent, and the Socialist Party is at 6 percent.
That contradicts the latest official polls, which have the Labour and Liberal parties running neck and neck. People can compare for themselves after the polling booths close at 21.00 this evening; broadcasters will publish the results of their exit polls shortly thereafter.