Double voting case in court
Local journalist Etienne Mare from Suburb News, who caused a stir on social media when he voted twice during the national and provincial elections in May, made a brief appearance in the Barberton Magistrate's Court on Friday.
BARBERTON -Also appearing in the same court was Malinda Halloway, the woman who tipped off Mare that she had voted more than once.
Their cases were postponed to September 13 for further investigation. They are out on a R1 000 bail each.
The duo face charges of contravening Section 88(d) of the Electoral Act by allegedly voting more than once, Section 89(i)(a) for allegedly intentionally making a false statement, and Section 90(2) for alleged infringement of secrecy.
Mare was arrested after he took a video depicting how he had managed to bypass the system and vote twice in two different locations.
Read More: Sanef supports local journo after double voting
He posted the video online, claiming that he was on his way to vote for a second time after hearing from Halloway that she had been able to vote several times.
He wanted to test the IEC’s voting systems. In the video he showed that it was easy to rub off the indelible ink mark on his thumb – a supposed fail-safe system to prevent citizens from voting twice.
While it is a fact that casting two votes in the elections is a crime, the South African National Editors Forum (Sanef) said Mare, who did so, was doing it in the interest of the public.
Also Read: Community calls for justice against IEC following multiple voting video
Sanef chairman, Mahlatse Mahlase, in a statement, said the forum was exploring options how best to offer legal support.
Sanef does not believe that journalists are above the law and we are aware of the fact that it is an offence to vote twice. However, it appears that Mare was genuinely operating in the public interest. He resorted to these measures to conclusively test the IEC systems with the purpose of highlighting possible electoral fraud,” said Mahlase.
“The fact that he spoiled his second vote is an indication of the fact that he was not trying to subvert the voting process,” she added.
