Register to vote

In a bid to get more eligible citizens registered, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has announced the first voter registration weekend in preparation for the 2014 national elections.

This will be held on November 9 and 10, between 8am and 5pm, at polling station across the country.

To vote in the country’s national elections you only have to register once, unless you move to a new voting district. This means that if you voted in the last elections – either municipal or national – you are already registered and will be able to vote come April.

For those who have never voted before or have just become eligible to do so, you will need to register before April’s elections.

All SA citizens, who are 16 years old and have a green bar-coded ID book can register.

You can apply for registration at any time, however, to be able to vote in a specific election, you must be registered before the election date is proclaimed (published in the Government Gazette) by the President. The Voters’ Roll for a specific election closes at 5pm on the day of proclamation.

The date for next year’s election has not yet been announced.

If you do not know where your voting stations is, you can check on the IEC’s website www.elections.org.za and use the Voting Station Finder. Using your address you will be told where your registration can be completed. This will be the same place you will go to vote next year.

You can also apply to register at your local municipal electoral office. In Springs, this is located in Room 19, Ground Floor, Civic Centre in Plantation Road.

For Addie readers residing closer to Nigel, the office can be found in the Civic Centre building in Hendrick Verwoed Street, Nigel.

You cannot register at the national or provincial electoral offices.

When you go to register, you will be required to fill in an “Application for Registration as a Voter” form. Your ID book will be scanned and a bar-coded sticker will be posted into your ID book. You are now ready to register and will use your ID book to do so in April.

If you have already registered and would like to check you are on the voter’s role, you can do so on the IEC website using in the voter registration details page or you can check via |SMS by sending your ID number to 32810.