Vryheid voter says ballot paper was tampered with, demands re-vote

A voter at the Scheepersnek voting station in Vryheid, KwaZulu-Natal, was escorted off the premises by police, after demanding an explanation from the IEC’s presiding officer as to why the ballot box was not sealed.

Marnu Nigrini is now asking for an opportunity to re-vote, as he doubts that the election process was free and fair, contrary to the values that the IEC ascribes to, he told Vryheid Herald.

Nigrini arrived at the voting station with his wife and baby at 10am on Wednesday morning, hoping that his vote would count towards facilitating a positive change for the country.

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“In Afrikaans, I would say, ‘Ek is daar toe met a lied in my hart.’ I was very excited to go and vote. Everything went well until I discovered the ballot box wasn’t sealed,” he said, pointing out that the voting station had already been open for three hours when he had gone to vote.

Marnu Nigrini was excited to vote, but is now uncertain that his vote will count.

Fearing the possibility that the ballot box not being sealed could result in someone tampering with his vote, Nigrini immediately confronted the presiding officer with his concerns.

“I had a long argument with the IEC official and eventually I took my phone out and just took a short video of what I saw. The video clearly shows the box is unsealed, and I can open it with my pinky. I asked the official how was this is going to be fair election if the ballot box is not properly sealed, and she said she had a pen where the seal was supposed to go because they could not figure out how to get the seal through the hole,” recalls Nigrini, describing his experience at the voting station.

“I don’t believe the election is going to be fair. After I posted my video on social media, I saw multiple other photos of boxes not being sealed. As voters became aware that the ballot boxes should be sealed, more photos were posted of ballot boxes not being sealed properly.”

Anxious about what happened after he left the voting station, and angry that his vote may have been tampered with, Nigrini feels the only the solution would be the opportunity to re-vote.

“I expressed my anger to the IEC officials, as they are responsible for ensuring a free and fair election. I began to wonder if they were receiving bribe money to do this, or just doing it by themselves for their party. I would really like to re-vote as I now feel like my vote did not count. Even if it is just one vote, it needs to count. This is why people are gatvol. This is why people just don’t bother voting,” Nigrini lamented.

Vryheid SAPS station commander Col Bhekuyise Ndlovu personally visited the Scheepersnek voting station to follow up on Ngrini’s complaint, but said that the party representatives observing the elections expressed confidence that the process had been free and fair.

“I spoke to the party agents who were there, and they said the ballot box had been assembled in front of them and they had seen that there was nothing inside it before the voting began, so they had no reason to suspect any foul play,” explained Col Ndlovu.

AbaQulusi’s municipal electoral officer PJ Ndlovu said the incident had not yet been brought to his attention, but agreed that all ballot boxes should have been sealed prior to voting.

“It is possible that this is a case of human error on the side of the presiding officer,” said Ndlovu.

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