Special voter: Stripped of my right to vote

Residents of Randfontein with special voting privileges are furious as they feel they have been stripped of their most basic right – the right to vote. Many cases of special voters not being on voting lists were reported last week. In Ward 7 alone, ten special voters could not vote as their names were not being on the voting list. Bettie Strydom is one such resident.

Bettie underwent a spinal operation on 25 July and has not been able to get out of bed since. While registering to vote in April, she applied for a special vote and was assured that Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) members would visit her house on 1 August. Nadia, her daughter and Niek, her husband, who are her full-time caretakers, registered for special votes as well.

Sure enough, the IEC members did visit the Strydom household on that day. However, when Bettie handed her Identity Document to one of them, she was informed that her name was not on the voters’ roll and therefore she couldn’t vote. Her daughter’s and husband’s names were on the roll, but they refused to vote until she could. “The IEC members left to make new printouts that day and promised to return the next day at three,” Bettie said. “We’re still waiting.”

Bettie says she is furious because this problem has never occurred before. “Everything went so smoothly the last time I voted with a special ballot. I feel stripped of my rights because of a small glitch like this one.” Nadia said she contacted every person she could think of to resolve the issue. “I contacted our Ward councillor, but he said he couldn’t do anything,” she said.

Ward councillor, Craig Harrison, says he did everything in his power to enable special voters to vote on the day, but the task was in the hands of the IEC members. “When we registered the voters in April, we even contacted elderly residents to ask them if they wanted special votes. We compiled a list of special voters and handed the list to the IEC.” He says once the lists are handed to the IEC, there is little anyone can do.

“This will definitely affect my willingness to vote in the next elections,” Bettie said.

The IEC says once the special voting date closes, no further votes can be made by these voters. “No exceptions can be made,” Kate Bapela, spokesperson for the IEC said.

Bettie said it is not the physical pain that bothered her on that day – the mere fact that she was denied the most basic right of all gave her an inner pain that she couldn’t describe.

Do you perhaps have more information pertaining to this story? Email us at randfonteinherald@caxton.co.za (remember to include your contact details) or phone us on 011 693 3671.

Also read: 

2016 Elections R’fonteiners make their marks

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