#IMadeMyMark: Preparations ready to ensure you safely make your mark
Do you know where to go vote? Wondering what you need to prepare for on voting day? Here are a few tips and some advice on what to expect.
MALALANE – The IEC and police in Nkomazi are ready for the thousands of people expected to visit voting stations on Wednesday to cast their vote in the general and provincial elections.
Close to two million people are registered to vote in Mpumalanga, with the majority being women.
Police will be deployed at all voting stations to see that proceedings are not disrupted and the IEC is also geared for various challenges they may come across.
READ: Elections 2019: 10 things you need to know before Election Day
Special votes at foreign missions have already been cast on Saturday and home visits and other special votes for people with disabilities, medical conditions or are unable to cast their vote on Wednesday, will be conducted today and tomorrow between 09:00 and 17:00.
On election day voting stations will be open from 07:00 to 21:00.
There are several voting stations across Nkomazi including:
• Malalane – Suikerland Secondary, Laerskool Malelane, Kobwa Community Hall
• Kaapmuiden Primary School
• Hectorspruit Community Hall
• Marloth Park Municipal Offices
• Komatipoort Show Hall
• KaMaqhekeza – Khula Secondary, Mjokwane Secondary, Holiness Union Church (Block C)
• Tonga – Tonga View Primary, Living Rock Church
• KaMhlushwa – Bantfwabetfu Preschool, Kamhlushwa Community Hall
• Schoemansdal Primary
To check where you need to vote, SMS your ID number to 32810 (R1 per SMS) or phone the IEC on 0800-11-8000 for any enquiries on the elections.
Capt Magonseni Nkosi of Tonga SAPS urged people to expect the unexpected. “People will be out in their numbers and you may have to wait in a queue for a while, so prepare for that.”
He urged people with medical conditions to ensure that they take their medication along when they go vote and pack into a snack, water or warm clothing depending on the weather.
Mel Preddy of the Malelane CPF urged voters to visit the voting stations early and to be careful when driving to avoid injuring anyone in the crowd heading to the various voting stations.
“ The SAPS have the obligation to keep order during voting. Take heed of their guidance, and assist them where you can. Tampering with anything in the voting station is a crime. If you observe criminal activity of any kind, approach the nearest police officials and bring this to their attention,” he said.
READ: Women urged to ward against rapists in Tonga and Naas
When arriving at the voting station, you will need to show your SA ID card, green bar-coded ID book or a temporary ID certificate to be scanned. Your thumb will be marked to show that you have voted.
You will receive two ballot papers, have an opportunity to draw your ‘x’ in a secluded spot and then drop your ballot papers in a box.
One ballot paper will list the 48 political parties that are contesting the general elections and the other will have the 28 parties participating in the provincial elections in Mpumalanga. In 2014, only 16 parties were on the provincial ballot paper in Mpumalanga.
The ballot paper will include the full party name, its abbreviation, a party logo and a photograph of the party leader.
This is to ensure that voters do not get confused due to parties using similar colours and abbreviations.
A universal ballot template will be used for people with sight problems, dyslexia, the elderly, low literacy or hand movement conditions that may cause them to accidentally spoil the vote.
Once voting stations close, the votes from each box will be unfolded, sorted, reconciled then counted, checked and bundled at the voting station. Observers and party agents will keep an eye on all the proceedings.
The Presiding Officer will complete the results slip and it will be signed by party agents. One copy of the slip will be posted on the door of the voting station, while another is taken to the local IEC office. Here is is scanned into the results system and double checked.
It is then audited and transmitted to the national and provincial results operations centres, where the data is immediately available to the IEC, political parties, observers and the media.
For more information on the election, processes and results, visit www.elections.org.za.
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