Several complaints arise during voting day
The IEC has responded to some of the voter complaints and has said it will follow up with its local office.
Although the voting process started out smoothly on Monday morning, November 1, multiple complaints from residents across the Lowveld have started to surface.
These included the Independent Electoral Commission system’s shutting down at various voting stations, to residents’ names not appearing on the voters’ roll where they registered.
Many residents have shared their dissatisfaction with the voting process in the Local Government Elections.
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Barberton resident, Yvette Winson, told Lowvelder that she and her husband were unable to vote.
She said that both of them had registered their new address during the voter registration weekend, only to find it had not been changed when they checked online a few days later.
She tried again to change their addresses online without luck and claimed she was told by a local councillor that the IEC would update their address.
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However, come voting day, Winson found she was registered to vote in the Northern Cape while her husband was registered to vote in the Free State.
DA councillor, Tersia Marshall, said that she knows of several voters who had similar issues.
“Some went to voting stations such as Laerskool Bergland, only to find that their names did not appear on the voters’ roll. They were told to fill out a form called an MEC 7, which would allow them to vote.”
Marshall added that the Bergland voting station also had issues with its system which had to be rebooted several times.
She said the system seemed to crash when the voting stations were at their busiest (around 300 people in an hour) and then had to be rebooted and start up again.
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She added that the PR ballot papers were delivered to Laerskool Bergland voting station two hours late on Saturday October 30.
A Mpumalanga Independent Electoral Commission communication officer, Thanduxolo Chembeni said it is investigating the allegations and is busy trying to establish facts at its local office.
He said the system experienced issues across the country, however, voter information was not affected.
Chembeni added that there was an issue of new boundaries for wards 16, 17, 18 in Mbombela.
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“Valencia was in Ward 17 but is now in Ward 18 and the area behind Valley Hyper was Ward 17 but is now Ward16. This was done by the Municipal Demarcation Board,” he said.
He added that the two-hour delay in delivery of ballot papers to Laerskool Bergland was due to ballots being mixed up during packing process. He said the ballots for Bergland had to be traced and that was why there was a delay.
In the meantime, voters who experienced similar issues are being urged to file a complaint at https://www.elections.org.za/
While these allegations left many disappointed, many attested to a seamless voting process.
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Melanie de Jager posted on Lowvelder Facebook page: “Excellent at Penryn College! Efficient and professional!”
Elaigne Page posted that her experience at Bergland was “excellent” as well.
“Wasn’t even there for 10mins. Well organised. Everyone friendly and positive,” she posted.
