The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) and Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Monday explained and defended the new electoral provision that requires voters to notify the commission if they would be voting outside their voting stations.
According to the IEC’s electoral timeline, voters should vote where they are registered.
However, a voter intending to be in a different voting district on election day must notify the IEC of their intended absence from their voting district and the voting station where they wish to cast their vote.
“A notification portal will soon be launched for this purpose. Notifications in this regard will close on 17 May 2024,” reads a statement from the IEC.
On Monday, an MP raised the matter during a briefing of the home affairs portfolio committee meeting in Parliament.
The MP said they were concerned with the applications for special votes, especially on those that will not be in their province or in their voting stations on the day of voting.
Commissioner Janet Love said section 24(b) was introduced due to concerns raised that persons who will not be at their normal address would find it very difficult to travel for the sake of voting on May 29.
“That is why the provision of section 24(b) is there and all that is required is to give notice where somebody will be,” Love said.
“Following consultation with the political liaison committee, this possibility to give notice was pushed to even further so that people can know by 17 May where they would be on May 29.
“It is less than two weeks that they should be able to know. As long as we are in a position to give notice to the CEO, we would make those arrangements for them,” she said.
Deputy electoral officer Masego Sheburi said they had made the closing date as late as possible without imperilling proper arrangements.
“The 17 of May is the very latest that you can close section 24 applications in order to facilitate proper arrangements so that people can enjoy their right to vote,” Sheburi said.
Sheburi also explained that those who will pre-notify the IEC and still vote in the provinces in which they were registered, will get three ballot papers, but those who will vote outside their provinces will just receive the national compensatory ballot.
Motsoaledi said the provision for notification to the IEC was prompted by the fact that in the 2019 elections there were people who claimed to have voted many times, moving from one station to the other to cast votes.
“If you remember, it was a big argument. Some parties were even threatening to go to court,” he said.
Motsoaledi said the IEC had put in place a mechanism to correct that.
“One of them is the voting gadget that has been introduced. The other was this provision that if you are to vote outside your voting station, you have got to give notice so that we know you are to vote there,” he said.
Cape Times