The IEC is urging South Africans to register to vote this weekend.
The Provincial Electoral Officer for the Western Cape, Michael Hendrickse, explained that if you have changed your address since the last local government election, you should ensure you are registered where you reside.
“Because it’s local government, you are actually voting for your ward representative. Ballot papers are unique to each ward… And therefore, you can only vote in the voting district where you are registered.”
“Otherwise, you will be disappointed when you get to your station, and we tell you to go somewhere else, and we do not want you to have that frustration,” Hendrickse said.
Anyone who hasn’t moved but wants to check that their details are correct on the voters’ roll can SMS 32810.
You cannot participate if you are not in your voting district on election day (4 November) or two days prior when special voting occurs.
“The only opportunity for you will be to vote on the 4th at your voting station or on the two days preceding as a special vote.
“Given the fact that, as I indicated, we have close to over 4,400 unique ballot papers, we cannot ensure that the ballot paper for every ward is distributed to every voting station in the country. So, therefore, we have to limit you to the voting district where you are.
“Secondly, it is a massive security risk to have too many ballot papers moving around, and then get all the ballot papers to the original voting station so that it can be counted on the Wednesday night.”
Unlike with the national parliament vote, there is no international voting. “We also do not have prisoners voting. And we also do not allow you to apply to vote somewhere else in a different city, et cetera.”
Any South African who is 16 years or older can visit the voting stations over this weekend between 8 o’clock and 5 o’clock on Saturday and Sunday. Hendrickse reminded citizens that they can register from the age of 16 but are only eligible to vote if they are 18.
“All you need to bring with you is your ID, and we will register you.”
Hendrickse said they expect the election date to be promulgated within the next two weeks and then there can be no more changes to the voters’ roll. “I suppose that the minister will proclaim, because we have our final opportunity for voters to come to our stations this weekend. But you will still have the opportunity to go online 24/7 up until the date of proclamation.”
So if you missed this weekend, you can still do it online, but that time is also running out, he said.
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