The deadline for submission of special vote applications is 5pm on 8 July.
Special votes are available to registered voters who are disabled, infirm and pregnant, as well as members of the security forces, election officials, the media and any other voters who are unable to visit their voting station on Election Day on 3 August.
There are two forms of special votes which include:
- Home visits: This is where election officials visit voters at their place of residence to allow them to cast their ballots. Home visits are only available to voters who are disabled, infirm or pregnant.
- Special voting at your voting station: Available to registered voters who are unable to vote on 3 August.
- To date, the Electoral Commission has received more than 285 000 applications for special votes. Of these, about 30 percent are for home visits.
Special votes may only be cast by voters who have applied for and received approval from the Electoral Commission to cast a special vote.
For the first time, applications for special votes are available online via the Electoral Commission’s website www.elections.org.za and via cellphone by SMSing the voter’s ID number to 32249 (SMS charged at R1).
The SMS application facility is only available for those applying to cast a special vote at their voting station and not for home visits.
More than half of all applications to date have been received via SMS or online.
The traditional method of applying for a special vote at local IEC offices is by submitting a MEC35 form, which is also still available. Forms must be hand-delivered, but can be delivered on behalf of a voter by someone else.
