IEC trains 10 000 officers to be ready for upcoming elections

The provincial Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has already trained 10 000 electoral officers to assist at voting stations during the upcoming voter registration weekends.

This is in preparation of the forthcoming national and provincial elections next year.

Briefing members of the provincial legislature last Thursday, Itumeleng Masenya from the provincial IEC office, said two weekends have been set aside for voter registration: November 9 and 10, and February 8 and 9 next year.

Registrations will take place at the voting stations on these days. Voters can also register or check their details at their nearest municipal office or IEC offices.

The province aims to register an additional 229 372 new voters on the voters’ roll for the elections.

An increase of 309 voting stations is foreseen after confirmation of the 3 062 stations following the finalisation of the delimitation of voting districts process.

More information on new voting stations will be supplied to voters closer to the election date. The IEC is planning towards elections taking place on May 14 next year, but it remains the prerogative of the country’s president to proclaim the election date, which must be within a 90-day period after the last election date five years ago, which was May 22, 2009, therefore elections must take place between May 23, 2014 and August 22, 2014.

Masenya said the Election Bill should be enacted by the end of October or early November. The Bill will enable South Africans abroad to vote during elections. Masenya said it will be a logistical nightmare for the IEC, but they would “work around it”.

Issues surrounding voting with the new smart ID card will also have to be solved to allow recipients of these cards to vote.

All prisoners will also have to be registered, as they will all be allowed to vote, unlike previous elections where only prisoners in certain categories were allowed to vote.

The legislation that allows seven days before election results have to be made known after the election, may have to be changed to allow for people abroad whose votes must be now be taken into consideration.

A proposal was made that South African persons abroad be able to vote a few days before the election date to enable results to be released, as usual, within a three-day period.

Previously two agents per political party were allowed per party at voting stations.

However, this was changed as some voting stations also have sub-stations, and more agents will be needed to be present at all times in stations such as school classrooms.