Take note of changes to voting stations in Region A as IEC unveils plans for national elections

MIDRAND – The current voter's roll stands at 83 per cent ...

January 21, 2019

Yolanda Buthelezi 4 minutes read

It’s all systems go for the voter registration national drive.

The Independent Electoral Commission launched the 2019 campaign for the National and Provincial Elections in Midrand on 10 January. It is aimed at encouraging new and old members of the public, especially the youth, to register to vote ahead of the upcoming elections. Leaders of various political parties, government and civil society were briefed by IEC officials on the state of readiness ahead of the 6th upcoming national elections, the voter’s roll and the commission’s new campaign.

IEC chief executive officer Sy Mamabolo said the commission has made significant progress in updating the voter’s roll.

“In March 2016, out of the 26 million voters on the roll, there were approximately 8.4 million for whom we had addresses. As we speak, that figure stands at 21.5 million, representing 83 per cent of the totality of the voter’s roll.”

Over the past 18 months, the commission has worked in preparation for the 2019 upcoming elections, which are expected to take place in May. The IEC had the mammoth task of updating the voter’s role in line with the 2016 Constitutional Court ruling. The court gave the commission 18 months to ‘collect the addresses of every citizen who appears on the voter’s roll’.

The IEC was ordered to finalise the voter’s roll by June 2018 but was granted an interim extension to November 2019. Mamabolo said the partnership with Statistics South Africa will ensure that the commission will publish the most up-to-date voter’s roll ahead of the elections.

Voters have one more opportunity to register and check their registrations from 26 to 27 January when more than 22 000 voting stations in the country will be open from 8am to 5pm.

Voters are also urged to make use of the online address verification facility on the IEC website to change or update their addresses.

Voting registration in numbers:

• The 22 927 voting districts increased by 650 since the 2014 National and Provincial Elections

• The number of temporary voting stations have decreased by 30 per cent over a five-year period

• There are a further 28 mobile voting stations in areas that are not suited for an aesthetic voting facility

• About 60 000 IEC officials recruited ahead of voter registration and Election Day.

Increase in political parties registrations

Mamabolo said in the past year, the commission has seen ‘a burgeoning registration of new political parties’.

He added, “Since January 2018, the electoral commission has received 47 applications for registration, bringing the current number of nationally registered parties in South Africa to 285.

“The electoral commission is still in the process of processing a further 37 applications.”

Youth registration drive

The youth is at the center of the IEC’s national drive for voter registration. The commission has planned a youth targeted registration drive at various institutions across the country.

IEC Chair Glen Mashinini unveiled the voter registration campaign intending to grab the attention of the youth and first-time voters, this is despite the youth representing over 50 per cent of the population.

“People below the age of 30 remain under represented. People who are between the ages of 18 and 19, are currently sitting on 16 per cent and people between the ages of 20 to 29 are sitting at about 50 per cent.

“The commission has decided to form and launch this particular campaign which should focus primarily in saying that the young people must be the target.”

The commission introduced the new logo of the campaign and an advertisement under the word: Xsê. The campaign features young South Africans from all walks of life expressing their reasons for the importance of voting in the upcoming elections.

Moreover, it’s a clever play on the ‘X’ that voters put on the ballot paper and which has featured in previous election campaigns.

Mashinini appealed to South Africans to seize the opportunity to make sure that ‘you are correctly registered and that your details are in full compliance come the registration weekend.’