Case Study: The City of Kortrijk achieves 10,000+ citizen votes in a binding digital referendum with Go Vocal

10,000 citizens partake in Kortrijk’s digital referendum

The City of Kortrijk ran Flanders’ first digital referendum in October 2019 to ask residents (16+) whether the city centre should be car-free one Sunday per month, with binding rules requiring at least 2,000 participants and a 2.5% margin. To run the poll online and verify voters, The City of Kortrijk used Go Vocal’s digital participation/voting platform to deliver an accessible, low‑threshold referendum experience.

Go Vocal’s platform enabled secure, one‑click voting (via national registration numbers) and supported mobile, desktop and tablet access, while the city led an information campaign to inform voters. The campaign saw 9,880 participants (≈16% of 60,000 eligible voters), an average vote time of 53 seconds, a 57% “no” / 43% “yes” result, and device usage of 62% smartphone, 31% desktop and 7% tablet — demonstrating strong engagement and measurable reach through Go Vocal’s solution.