Elections 2024: All eyes on the IEC dashboard as results trickle in

X marks the spot as counting starts after an eventful day of polling across South Africa.

May 30, 2024
Caxton Reporter 3 minutes read
Photo: Screenshot of IEC result dashboard.

Just over 12% of votes in the 2024 National and Provincial Elections had been counted by 09:30, despite long queues of people still waiting to vote at 21:00, when voting stations were due to close.

As with previous elections, people in the queue at 21:00 were allowed to stay on and make their mark, however long it took.

The good voter turnout yesterday – predicted by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to be greater than the 66% it was in 2019 – was somewhat marred by the slow pace at some stations, largely caused by technical glitches with the voter management devices (VMD).

Polokwane Review reports the IEC instructed its presiding officers to use the voters’ roll in instances where the VMDs were faulty. This is aligned with queue management directions issued to officials by the IEC before voting started.

In addition, officers were instructed to split the voters’ roll and use counting officials to process voters quickly.

A long wait

Zululand Observer reports that voters at KwaMbonambi Primary School in KZN queued for four hours, reportedly because of insufficient devices at this polling station.

The IEC confirmed in an X post at 21:45 that all voting stations were ‘closed’ but that: “All voters in the queue by closing time will still be allowed to vote, even if the queue extends beyond the voting station boundary.”

More complaints

Northglen News reports that Ward 36 councillor Shontel de Boer said the biggest issue in her ward was that the inking pens had stopped working at the largest voting station – Chelsea Preparatory School in Durban North.

“There have been plenty of hassles since the morning, but the biggest one at the moment is that people are voting without being inked. This morning, scanners were also offline, which resulted in long queues,” she told the publication yesterday.

De Boer added that some IEC staff were ‘incompetent and could not read or spell properly’.

“The IEC must invest more time in training hired staff ahead of elections. There were [a] few complaints about presiding officers,” she added.

Ward 35 councillor Nicole Bollman said she received a few complaints from voters in her ward who had qualified for special votes but never got the chance to vote as IEC officials reportedly did not show up at their homes.

“There were other minor problems, but special voters not being able to vote is a massive problem. We’ve been calling them to try and get them to a voting station to vote, but some can’t as they are bedridden,” said Bollman.

Man killed near voting station

The Witness reports a man was shot near Swayimane High School voting station outside Pietermaritzburg, just after 19:00.

KZN police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda confirms the shooting: “He was not shot at the gate of the voting station; he was about 500m away from the station. The police are still gathering all the information around the incident.”

And we are counting…

After various voting stations closed, counting commenced.

At just after 02:00, the IEC made known the first results:

Keep up to date with results as they come in: https://results.elections.org.za/dashboards/npe/

Read original story on www.citizen.co.za

May 30, 2024
Caxton Reporter 3 minutes read
 
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