Voter registration dates announced
The country’s 22 932 voting stations will open from 8am to 5pm on January 26 to 27 to allow new voters to register and existing voters to update and check their registration details.
The Electoral Commission has announced the dates for its second and final voter registration weekend for the 2019 national and provincial elections.
Chairperson of the Commission, Glen Mashinini, announced the dates at a media conference in Centurion recently.
Regarding the voter registration for next year’s elections, the Electoral Commission says there are currently 26.1 million registered voters on the national common voters’ roll.
Mashinini says it was his hope that at least one million voters will be added to the voters’ roll ahead of the 2019 elections.
The Electoral Commission is also hopeful that voters who are already registered will use the opportunity to visit their voting station to check their registration to confirm and update their address details.
This forms part of the ongoing drive to ensure the voters’ roll is ready for the elections in line with the 2016 order of the Constitutional Court.
All South Africa citizens aged 16 and older in possession of an official ID document can register as voters (although only those who are at least 18 years old on voting day may vote).
Voters should take a copy of their bar-coded ID book, smart card ID or temporary ID certificate when they go to register in the voting district in which they ordinarily reside.
When registering, voters will need to provide their address or a description of where they live to allow the Electoral Commission to place them on the correct segment of the voters’ roll and documentation or proof of address is not required.
The President recently indicated his intention to proclaim elections before the end of May.
Registered voters can visit the Electoral Commission website (www.elections.org.za) to check their current registration details and voting station location.
They can also SMS their ID number to 32810 to receive an SMS containing the address of their voting station (charged at R1).
An online facility (www.elections.org.za/MyIEC) is also available for registered voters with access to the internet to update and review their address online.
Unregistered voters can insert their address in the Voting Station Finder application on the website (https://maps.elections.org.za/vsfinder/) to find their correct voting station or call the contact centre.
