Was your vote counted accurately? IEC had to employ officers with ‘higher maths literacy’

With election day queues and crosses behind us, the numbers game of ballot counting is in full swing in the country’s 23,293 voting districts.

By noon Thursday, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) announced that the National Assembly results were 18.19% complete.

Election day delay

Counting was delayed on Wednesday, as many voting stations across the country saw people still waiting to vote hours after the stations closed at 9pm. 

According to IEC CEO, Sy Mamabolo, new officials with higher maths literary skills have been appointed to assist with the counting of ballots for the 2024 election. 

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What is a counting officer?

This new category of staff is called a counting officer and has been introduced since the 2021 electoral amendment laws.

Counting officers are employed based on their higher-than-average numeracy skills and their main job is to assist the presiding officer in counting votes.

Mamabolo said the appointment of the new officials is meant to improve the quality of the counting process.

“The recruitment criteria for this staff was slightly different from the rest of the staff, as high levels of numeracy were mandatory.

“Three such staff were appointed for each voting station and each substation where we operate a voting centre,” the CEO explained.

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Deadline for final results

According to legislation, the IEC has seven days to announce the final results.

Mamabolo said that even with this election’s three-ballot system, the IEC is confident it will meet that deadline.   

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How does the ballot counting process work?

Ballots are counted at the voting stations where they were cast. When the voting station closes, it gets turned into a counting station.

So what happens next? Take a look at the IEC’s step-by-step explainer.

• Sealed ballot boxes verified, opened and emptied, including special votes.
• Ballots unfolded face down and checked for the IEC stamp. Ballots without stamps are invalid and not counted.
• Ballots are then grouped according to National, Regional and Provincial. Verification and reconciliation checks are done to ensure all ballots received at that voting station are accounted for. Ballots received, unused ballots and used ballots (including cancelled ballots) are all captured in a ballot paper statement.  
• Ballots are then counted. During this stage, they are separated into different piles for each party/candidate and grouped into 10s with paper clips, then grouped into 100s using elastic bands. Questionable ballots are set to one side, and the counting officer determines each one to determine if it can be counted or not. Another round of verification takes place during this stage. Usually, this is the stage where most of the disputes are raised by party agents, and then resolved.
• Results slips for each of the three ballot papers are then completed. During this stage, final calculations are done, the votes tallied, and a gain is verified. Once the results slips are completed and signed by the counting officer, party agents sign as witnesses too. One copy of the results slip is pasted on the door of the voting station. The other is transported to the local IEC office where it is scanned and captured on the results system.

Another round of verification by external auditors is done once in the system.

Objections can be raised at any stage before the signing of the results sheet by party agents. Observers are not allowed to raise objections.

FIND ELECTION RESULTS HERE.