With this year’s general elections over two months away, the Western Cape Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) says it is ready.
During a stakeholder engagement meeting held at Garden Court hotel in Walmer Estate, on Wednesday 28 February, Michael Hendrickse, provincial electoral officer, said one of the major changes to the elections this year is the issuing of three ballot papers.
Registered voters will cast their votes on Wednesday 29 May.
According to the IEC, the Western Cape has just over 3,3 million registered voters.
“For the first time in the country’s history, there will be three ballot papers at voting stations,” he said. “In previous elections, there were only two ballots, a National PR Ballot for the National Assembly (Parliament), and a Provincial Ballot for the Provincial Legislature of the province.
“Now we have a third ballot. This is for the regional seats for the province in the National Assembly.”
Hendrickse explained that the terms “regional” and “provincial” are to distinguish between the seats reserved for that region in Parliament (regional seats) and seats in the Provincial Legislatures of that province (provincial seats). A region covers the same territorial area as a province.
Hendrickse warned that people found guilty of providing false information when applying for home visit special votes could face prosecution. Home visits special votes only apply to people with ill health, physical disability or pregnancy.
“We have found in the past that people abuse that by applying for special vote and we get to the house and the person is not there. If you apply on behalf of someone, you have to indicate your name and details. And we are warning people that if you do provide false information in terms of your condition, you may be prosecuted.”
Special vote applicants can apply between Monday 15 April and Thursday 3 May. The applicant will receive an SMS once the application has been processed.
Voters will not be allowed to vote where they are not registered.
“You need to inform the IEC that you want to vote at a different voting station. There is a Notification Form available at the local IEC Office or on the IEC Website. If the voting station is outside your province, you will only receive one ballot paper (national PR).”
According to Hendrickse, the IEC does not foresee any challenges and plans are in place to ensure voting stations are safe.
He said the voter-management devices used at stations are battery-operated and can last up to 72 hours, meaning that load shedding would not affect voting.
“We are procuring portable lights to ensure that lighting is available at voting stations if there’s load shedding. The commission is engaging with Eskom to ensure that we have an uninterrupted power supply.”
Hendrickse explained each voter receives the universal ballot, but methods are in place to assist visually impaired voters.
“There is no braille ballot paper. We have a device that assists people who are visually impaired who want to vote. It’s a template and the ballot paper slips into the template with squares open so that the voters can feel their way on the right-hand side and then mark according to the party or independent candidate wants to vote for.”
Hendrickse said the country is nowhere near implementing electronic voting. He explained that electronic voting is when an electronic voting device, which is offline, is used. Internet voting refers to voting online. “When we look at international studies by organisations, we find that a majority of democracies do not go with online voting because there is the threat of hacking into the system, and there is a possibility that someone can track how you vote. A lot of studies are needed to make sure that the vote is secure.”
