No days for special-voter registration

MBOMBELA – The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) will not set aside days for special-voter registration.

This was revealed by Mr Sibusiso Nkosi of the IEC following questions posed by Mpumalanga News on whether people living with disabilities, and pensioners will have special days set aside for them to register.

This comes ahead of the set date of

February 8 and 9.

“All voting stations are open for registration purposes, there are no days set aside for special registration, however, the IEC is registering people who are mostly situated in municipal areas,” Nkosi said.

The commission pays special attention to the needs of disabled people as one of its most important stakeholders. “We have a universal Braille template (UBT) for the blind and pensioners. This template, with Braille numbering, in which the ballot paper is inserted is used with numbers and corresponding parties that are read out to the voter, who can then make his or her choice in secret.

“This UBT is distributed to all voting stations and it assists both sectors because it can be read by the blind and assist the old, who are prone to conditions like arthritis to make their choice without spoiling the ballot,” Nkosi said.

He indicated that there are special voting days for the elections and by-elections when officials visit those who cannot go to the stations due to illness or medical conditions.

“People who wish to be visited for special votes should apply before or during dates announced as per the election timetable,” he added. Nkosi indicated that a total of

77 268 people have been registered for the first time. “A further 83 702 people or used the opportunity to change their existing registration to a different voting station and about 36 581 (18,5 per cent) re-registered at their existing voting stations. More than 80 per cent of all new registrations were young people, which helped to boost levels of those in the 20 to

29 age group to 51,75 per cent.

“We have 1 678 voting stations and each will be manned by two officials; that brings us to the sum of 3 356 officials. This is the final registration weekend and we therefore urge people to use this opportunity on February 8 and 9. The IEC has also registered prisoners for the 2014 national and provincial elections. This took place on January 5 to 7. The Department of Home Affairs assisted those who are in correctional centres to get their IDs in order to register.”