Some Dundee voters left frustrated after being not allowed to vote for ward councillor of their choice
Voters discovered they could no longer vote for their ward councillor after failing to update their details after boundaries changed.
Several voters who attempted to cast special votes at Dundee Junior School yesterday and today were left frustrated after discovering that they had been moved from Ward 2 to Ward 4 following changes to ward boundaries.
Although they were allowed to cast two of the three ballots – the party and district council votes – they were unable to vote for their preferred ward councillor.
“I feel really disappointed. I want to vote for the candidate of my choice, but I can’t. We had no idea the ward boundary had changed and that we now have to vote at Ethangeni Primary School in Ward 4,” said one woman.
“We applied for special votes and received an SMS confirming that we were registered to vote at Dundee Junior, only to be told that we could use just two ballot papers,” said one affected voter.
The voter and another person who experienced the same problem, both of whom asked not to be named, said they were so disappointed that they no longer felt like voting.
IEC explains voting station changes
Hlengiwe Gwebu of the Dundee IEC checks voters’ credentials. Photo: Terry Worley.
The Courier approached the Dundee IEC office, where official Hlengiwe Gwebu promptly checked the affected voters’ identity numbers on the system.
“The system still shows them as being registered at Dundee Junior, where they were previously registered. However, because the ward boundary changed, their addresses are no longer linked to that voting station. They were therefore given the option of only casting ballots for the party and district council votes,” Gwebu explained.
She said the IEC had provided three separate registration opportunities between May and August for voters to register or update their details. This could also be done through the IEC website.
With some ward boundaries changing, voters who had not updated their residential addresses could find that their identity numbers were no longer linked to the correct voting station.
The IEC urged voters to make use of registration opportunities and ensure their details were up to date to avoid similar disappointments.
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