The Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) announced on Tuesday that special voters from home will not be granted a second visit if they miss the first opportunity.
Masego Shiburi, deputy chief electoral officer, said being offered one chance was a way to avoid accusations that some people voted twice.
The team won’t go back
“Special voters who are unable to go to the station should note that they will be visited only once and if they are not found, the team will not go back.
Those voters, however, will be able to cast their special votes on the 29th of May at the station of which they registered,” said Shiburi.
He said another method used to avoid double voting was ensuring that no persons applied twice for voting.
“Shiburi explained that if a voter applied for special voting twice, the second application will overwrite the first application and if a voter had applied for special voting and subsequent to the approval applied for vote by Section 24a, the latter would replace the initial application.
“This is so in order to honor the constitutional and lawful requirements that a voter should only vote once,” he said.
230 000 people cast their votes
Shiburi also announced that at least 230 000 citizens had cast their votes by 2pm on the first day of special voting. In total there are R1.6 million registered special voters and 600 000 will vote from their given addresses.
“While we are happy with the turnout, we urge those voters who are yet to vote to do so for the remainder of today, as well as special votes tomorrow. When the list has been exhausted, the station should close down,” he said.
Shiburi said while they were happy about the numbers of people voting on the first day, it was still unfortunate that 107 voting stations could not open, with a large number dominating the OR Tambo section where there is an ongoing taxi strike.
