Elderly deprived of special votes

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) is being accused of hosting unfair elections by some of Lar Santa Isabel old age home residents.

“Elections cannot be said to be fair when some registered voters who wanted to vote were denied the opportunity to do so,” complained William Marrs.

William Marrs and his wife Marion Marrs were approved special voters and had to be visited by voting representatives to cast their votes.

“We were looking forward to voting against corruption and we never had the chance to,” asserted Marion.

“We are very old and cannot stand for long periods of time, let alone walk properly, but we still deserve a chance to vote,” an angry William complained.

“The IEC came to our home to help us apply for the special votes. We applied and our application was approved. But then they never came to take our votes as they had promised,” asserted a frustrated Marion.

On their website, the IEC states that if a person is unable to travel to their voting station because they are physically infirm, disabled or pregnant, voting officials will visit them at their homes and allow them to vote.

“It is a great concern therefore that they say we can have a voice as citizens but then never keep their words,” said John Watson, a 70- year-old man who was also unable to cast his special vote.

One of the IEC’s main values is accountability in their dealings during the election period.

Masego Sheburi, an IEC Gauteng provisional officer, affirmed that 130 Lar Santa Isabel residents applied for special votes and 120 of those applicants were reached to cast their votes.

“It is the assertion of the presiding officer that Mrs Marrs was phoned from the reception by the receptionist as with all other residents to no avail,” Sheburi added.

In response to this, William said “we spent the whole day at home and we have three phones in the house. We also have a helper who is always here, so one of us would have heard the phone.

“It is also not difficult to knock on the door, so really there is no excuse for this,” concluded William.

Special votes took place on 5 and 6 May.