All systems go for final voter registration weekend

It’s all systems go for South Africa’s final voter registration weekend tomorrow (Saturday) and Sunday and preparations are reportedly in place for the province’s 3 157 voting stations to open from 08:00 to 17:00 on both days.
According to Motsiri Ramafalo on behalf of the Independent Electoral Commission in Limpopo the process would allow for new voters to register and all existing voters to update and check their addresses and registration details ahead of this year’s elections.
After this weekend registered voters can update their details online and unregistered voters can visit their local IEC office during office hours to register for a short period. Once the elections are proclaimed by the President and Premiers, expected to occur in the next few weeks, the voters’ roll for this year’s elections is sealed and no further registrations are allowed.
Voters should take along their bar-coded ID book, smart card ID or temporary ID certificate when they go register.
Each voting station would be stocked with registration forms in all official languages, maps of the ward to help locate voters’ place of residence and copies of the current voters’ roll, he indicated. All voting stations, it was learnt, will also be equipped with an ID scanner containing the voter’s roll and would help to link each visitor to the voting station and ward. Voting stations will be staffed by an average of three registration officials to assist voters swiftly and efficiently.
Voters need to register in the ward in which they ordinarily reside. To find out the location of their designated voting station voters can call 0800 11 8000 or use the voting station finder app on www.elections.org.za. When registering, voters need to provide their address or a description of where they live to allow the Electoral Commission to place them on the correct segment of the voters’ roll. However, documentation or proof of address is not required.
All South African citizens aged 16 and older in possession of an official ID document can register as voters, although only those who are at least 18 years old on voting day may vote.
There are currently 2,56 million registered voters on the national common voters’ roll for the province and Provincial Electoral Officer (PEO) Nkaro Mateta hopes at least 100 000 additional voters will be added during this weekend’s registration drive in Limpopo. “The Electoral Commission is especially eager for young, first-time voters to register as a new generation of participants in our 25-year-old electoral democracy. Special registration drives are also being planned for tertiary education campuses once they open in February to help boost youth registrations.”
Ramafalo further mentioned that the Electoral Commission was hopeful that voters who were already registered would use the opportunity to visit their voting station to check their registration and specifically to confirm and update their address details. Registered voters can also do so online via the “Click, Check and Confirm” facility on www.elections.org.za. “Since this service was introduced in October 2016 more than 125 000 voters nationally have used the service to confirm or update their address details. The current registration drive ahead of this year’s national and provincial elections has seen a surge in the use of this portal with more than 2 000 users per day updating their addresses on the site over the past week.”

Story: YOLANDE NEL
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