IEC ready for those qualified for Special Votes

The Electoral Commission is ready to welcome voters who have qualified for Special Votes in the 2024 National and Provincial elections.

On Monday, 27 and Tuesday, 28 May, officials from the commission will visit homes and institutions of care, as well as welcome, at voting stations across the country, those voters approved to vote by special vote.

SPECIAL VOTES BREAKDOWN

A total of 1 668 076 South Africans have been approved for Special Votes.

Of these, a total of 624 593 voters will be visited by trained election officers at their homes or places of confinement.

The provincial breakdown of the Special Votes applications is as follows: 

• Gauteng (335 480)
• KwaZulu-Natal (320 010)
• Eastern Cape (286 059)
• Limpopo (159 800)
• Western Cape (137 558)
• North-West (132 627)
• Mpumalanga (126 112)
• Free State (86 908)
• Northern Cape (83 504)

Special votes will be administered in the presence of representatives of contestants and observers where those are available.

Voters are reminded to have their identity documents as a requirement for participation.

After casting a ballot, the ballots will be inserted in an unmarked envelope which, in turn, will be inserted in a second envelope with details of the voter.

Voting stations will be open between 09:00 and 17:00, at the same time home visits will be undertaken.

Only voters who were approved for special votes will be allowed to vote on 27 and 28 May.

SPECIAL VOTE TRANSPORTATION

After the voting process, the ballots, in their double envelopes, will be transported to local storage sites for safekeeping until they are reintroduced at voting stations on 29 May for counting.

The IEC has emphasised that voters must vote where their names appear on the voter’s roll.

Although voters could vote at any voting station in previous general elections and still qualify for the national ballot if voting outside of their registered province, this is no longer the case.

Amendments were effected to assist with election planning and to counter any attempts at double-voting.

The Electoral Commission reminded all voters that they can only vote in voting districts where they are registered.

“We remind South Africans that the counting of votes takes place at each voting station in the presence of political party agents and independent candidate agents and observers where present.”

The results slip will be counter-signed by party agents and displayed at that voting station.

All interested parties are allowed to capture a photo of the official result of that voting station, with their gadgets.

BALLOT PAPERS

A reminder of the three ballot papers voters can anticipate in the 2024 elections:

• The National Ballot: This ballot will be used to vote for political parties. There are currently 52 parties who will be on this ballot and the configuration will be a dual column.
• The Regional to National Ballots: This ballot will have political parties and independent candidates contesting for the seats reserved for each province in the National Assembly. Voters will use this ballot to elect a political party or an independent candidate to represent them in the National Assembly.
• The Provincial Ballots: This ballot is unique to each province and includes parties and independent candidates competing for seats in each respective provincial legislature. This ballot will allow voters to choose either a political party or an independent candidate to represent them in provincial legislatures. 

MEASURES IN PLACE FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

The voting process has been made more accessible to all South Africans.

Voting officials will assist all voters who require assistance on voting day. 

In collaboration with the South African National Council for the Blind (SANCB), the IEC has developed a voting aid, the Universal Ballot Template (UBT), to enable all citizens to exercise their vote confidently and confidentially. 

The UBT can be used by:

• Blind and partially-sighted people
• Low-vision users
• People with an unsteady hand
• The elderly
• People with low literacy
• People with motor and nervous conditions which do not allow for a steady hand.

The IEC has called on registered voters to check their voting stations ahead of election day.

A number of channels are available to assist voters with checking their registration.

These include:

• Electoral Commission’s website www.elections.org.za 
• SMS ID number to 32810 
• Contact centre 0800 11 8000
• IEC APP downloadable from the App Store or Google Play.