Pretoria – The Electoral Commission (IEC) says it is on track to complete special voting through home visits and at voting stations by 5pm today.
Updating the media on the progress of the second day of special voting on Tuesday, Chief Electoral Officer Mosotho Moepya said they have taken measures to deal with the challenges that arose on the first day of special voting.
Challenges encountered on Monday include election officials not following the correct procedure for special votes, such as not using the double envelope system to protect the secrecy of votes. There were also three reported cases of voters, who had not applied for special votes but were granted permission to vote.
Moepya assured that in all these instances, the affected ballots have been quarantined and the IEC will, after consultation with the national Political Party Liaison Committee, determine the way forward.
“At voting stations where procedures were not followed, the Presiding Officers and Deputy Presiding Officers have been issued warnings.
“In two cases where the behaviour of the Presiding Officers and Deputy Presiding Officers were believed to be more serious breaches – including allowing voters, who had not been granted special votes to vote and failing to secure ballot boxes - they have been summarily dismissed,” said Moepya.
A record number of special vote applications – 719 222 – were received. Elections officials reported that between 50% and 70% of home visits had been completed on Monday, with the remaining visits underway from early Tuesday.
“At voting stations, turnout for special votes varied considerably. Some voting stations had already closed yesterday after all approved special votes had already been cast. Other voting stations reported a low turnout of votes on day one,” Moepya said.
Weather disruptions
Meanwhile, two election officials were slightly injured when a tent used as a voting station was broken in KwaDukuza in KwaZulu-Natal. A tent used as a voting station in Belfast, Mpumalanga, was also blown over.
Heavy rains also disrupted special voting in Elliotdale in the Eastern Cape. However, the weather had cleared on Tuesday.
The Electoral Commission has condemned the disruption of the elections by individuals, warning that it is working with the police to protect the voting process and investigate criminal acts and other violations of the Code of Conduct.
This comes after the burning of two tents in an overnight arson attack by disgruntled residents at Freedom Park in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng.
Moepya said the two tents have been replaced today and extra security has been arranged.
In Vuwani in Limpopo, special voting started smoothly today after being postponed on Monday.
Fake news website
The Electoral Commission also noted the statements made on fake news websites on Monday about people being arrested with large quantities of ballot papers already marked for a specific party.
Moepya assured that the claims are a hoax.
“Despite the photograph of the marked ballot papers clearly being a national ballot paper for the 2014 National and Provincial Elections, this destructive story spread virally and was also picked up by some media organisations,” Moepya noted. – SAnews.gov.za
