Voting and registration: what you need to know

2014 is an election year. Many believe it is going to be a watershed year for South African politics.

Share this information with all your friends and family and make your votes count:

• The first thing you need to know about voting is that you have to be registered as a voter with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) or you will not be allowed to participate in the elections.

• To register, you need to be 18 years or older on the day of the election and must be in possession of a green bar-coded ID book. Parents of teenagers who will be 18 years old by May 2014 should ensure that they get registered before the deadline at 5pm on 9 February.

• The final voter registration weekend takes place on 8 and 9 of February. Anyone who would like to register or check if they are registered, can go to their local voting station with their ID books. The entire process takes only 10 minutes.

• You can register at your local IEC office during working hours, Monday to Friday, if you cannot make it to your local voting station next weekend. The IEC office for Region B is situated at the Diners Club building in Auckland Park (ACA Krans), just up the road from the SABC and opposite the Brixton Tower. You have until 5pm on the day the President announces the election date to register. This could be any time from 9 February. Best you register before then.

• It is important that you vote in your province and in the right constituency. If you have recently moved to a new suburb in a different ward, you should re-register at your new voting station or at the IEC office in Auckland Park.

• Although it is possible to vote anywhere in the country on voting day, if you are registered to vote in another province and you do not vote in that province, you will not be given a provincial ballot, only a national one, so if you want a new government in your province, best you ensure you vote there.

• The date of the election is traditionally announced by the President of the Republic during the State of the Nation address. No one will be able to tell you for sure what the date will be until then, but there is a chance that it will only happen in May 2014. Bear this in mind when registering your teenage children.

Details: www.elections.org.za