IEC Expresses Joy After Successfully Executing First Day Of Special Votes

The Electoral Commission's Deputy Chief Electoral Officer Masego Sheburi expressed his joy after successfully executing the first day of special votes, which was held on Monday and will continue on Tuesday, as part of the National and Provincial Elections.

Speaking at the National Results Operation Centre (ROC) in Midrand on Monday afternoon, Sheburi said, "As of 2:00 pm today, an estimated 201,794 voting station visits of special votes were processed in 22,626 service points," SA News reported.

He said that during the two days of special votes, 62,000 officials from the Electoral Commission will visit a total of 624,593 voters. These officials will be accompanied by political party agents and observers where possible.

"The Electoral Commission is happy with the turnout and urges South Africans to continue to go out in their numbers to vote on 29 May 2024," he said. "If the voter is not present at the given address, they will be able to cast their vote at the voting station where they are registered."

He went on to share that if there is an instance where a voter has made two transactions, then the last one will override the first one, explaining that this will protect the integrity of the elections and prevent voters from voting twice.

Sheburi praised the commission's good preparations due to which most voting stations in the Eastern Cape opened despite unrelated protests. Out of 435 voting stations that had problems in the morning, only 107 were still closed due to external issues. However, those 107 voting stations will also reopen on Tuesday.

The Deputy Chief Electoral Officer encouraged everyone who applied for a special vote to come to their voting station between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm.

"Voters are reminded that these are different from the voting hours of 7 am to 9 pm on Election Day. Voters are reminded to have their identity documents as a requirement for participation," he said.

He added, "After casting votes, the ballots must be inserted in an unmarked envelope which in turn will be inserted in a second envelope with details of the voter. The special voting process is subject to all the security and integrity protocols of normal voting including scrutiny by party agents and observers where present."

Sheburi noted that all the special votes will be stored securely overnight and transported to voting stations on May 29, reconciled and added to the ordinary ballots. More than 1.6 million South Africans are approved for special votes.