Cape Town - The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has clarified concerns about the use of one ballot box instead of three.
For the first time in the voting history of South Africa, voters were presented with three ballot papers instead of two. However, at some voting stations, voters complained that only one ballot box was being used instead of three.
IEC provincial electoral officer Michael Hendricks, said: “In some cases, only one ballot box is actually being used at that voting station instead of three, and this shouldn't be a concern as all ballot papers will be counted the same at the end of the day.
“Again, I can also remind voters not to worry if there was only one box being used at the voting station and all three ballots were being shoved in there. The fact of the matter is that those votes remain valid.
“All it will mean is that we will take a bit longer to sort those ballot papers. But those ballots, even though they go into one box, remain valid for the three elections.”
Cape Town Mayor @geordinhlewis and his wife Carla voting at Edgemead Primary School.
— Cape Argus (@TheCapeArgus) May 29, 2024
Picture: Henk Kruger/ Independent Newspapers pic.twitter.com/Q4IWrI4TrO
Hendricks said the IEC also received complaints about its voter management devices, which resulted in delays at some voting stations.
“There were some voting stations where there were delays as IEC staff were late to arrive. We have also received reports that at certain stations, there are problems with the operation of our voter management device.
“The instruction to staff is that the voter management device can also operate in off-line mode and the information can still be captured. What then happens is that when the voter management device is at a place where there’s connectivity, the system will upload the information.”
The IEC in the Western Cape, has 1 572 voting stations and more than 19 000 electoral staff.