The Electoral Commission recently announced the dates for its second and final voter registration weekend for the 2019 national and provincial elections.

The country’s 22 932 voting stations will open from 08:00 to 17:00 on Saturday January 26 and Sunday January 27, 2019 to allow new voters to register and existing voters to update and to check their registration details.

The Electoral Commission said there are currently 26,1 million registered voters on the national common voters’ roll.

Voters who are already registered should use the opportunity to visit their voting station to check their registration and specifically to confirm and update their address details.

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).

Voters should take a copy of their bar-coded ID book, smart card ID or temporary ID certificate when they go to register in the voting district in which they ordinarily reside.

When registering, voters will 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.

In terms of the Constitution, the term of the current National Assembly and provincial legislatures ends on May 6, 2019 and elections must be held within 90 days thereafter. This means the elections must be held between May 7 and August 5, 2019.

Currently the lowest voter registration levels are for voters aged 18 – 19 (15.6% of estimated eligible population) and 20 – 29 (56.7% of estimated eligible population).
The Electoral Commission Contact Centre will also be activated ahead of the national registration weekend and will be operational until after the registration weekend to assist citizens to register and vote.

The Electoral Commission appeals to all stakeholders including political parties, government departments and entities, the media and civil society organisations including labour, business, NGOs, religious-based organisations, traditional leaders and all community organisations to support the registration drive and encourage voter registration ahead of the elections.

Registered voters can visit the Electoral Commission website (www.elections.org.za) to check their current registration details and voting station location. They can also SMS their ID number to 32810 to receive an SMS containing the address of their voting station (charged at R1).

An online facility (www.elections.org.za/MyIEC) is also available for registered voters with access to the internet to update and review their address online.

Unregistered voters can insert their address in the Voting Station Finder application on the website (https://maps.elections.org.za/vsfinder/) to find their correct voting station or call the Contact Centre.

Post-Mugabe euphoria fades with Zimbabwe’s elections