Why results take ‘so long’ to tally
JOBURG – Votes now go through an extensive process before captured and finalised.
Even though all of the votes cast in Gauteng in yesterday’s municipal elections have been counted by this morning, not all of them have gone through the capturing process at the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC) Gauteng Results Centre.
“Election officials, under the watchful gaze of party agents and observers, spent the night sorting and counting ballots at their voting stations to produce result slips for each of the voting stations,” the IEC said this morning.
“Once these were signed by election officials and party agents, a copy is posted on the voting station door and a copy is taken to the municipal electoral office or a regional results centre where the results are captured onto the results system. Party agents were encouraged to also take photographs of the results slips as an extra check”.
The IEC explained that following the capture process, the results are then audited independently before being finalised.
The IEC’s Gauteng Electoral Officer, Mashego Sheburi, said this morning’s disruptions at the Gauteng Results Centre in Auckland Park also set back the process by a few hours.
“I would have wanted to relay the results of the major metros by tonight, but this morning has set us back,” he said.
To keep updated on the current results, that are not final, click here.
