POLOKWANE – “There is a recount happening at Mitchell House with the possibility of the issue being resolved.”

The DA’s Desiree van der Walt has confirmed that the IEC is recounting ballots from the Mitchell House voting station in Polokwane due to a number of ballots that do not match up to the votes cast.

#Elections2024 – The DA's Desiree van der Walt has confirmed that the IEC is recounting ballots from the Mitchell House voting station in Polokwane due to a number of ballots that do not match up to the votes cast. #ElectionResults pic.twitter.com/JUq7NojfJT

— Polokwane Observer (@PolokwaneObserv) May 30, 2024

Van der Walt spoke during a media briefing at the Results Operations Centre at The Ranch Resort earlier this afternoon where she explained that ballots must balance with the number that was issued to the voters.

“There are three different ballot papers during this election at the end of the day, ballots must balance. It was brought to our attention that they could not balance the ballots at Mitchell House. It seems there were 100 extra ballots that were over the amount issued,” she told the media.

Hundreds of voters at the Mitchell House voting station remain at the school after 21:00 to cast their vote. The queue, which has been long for most of the day is one of many in the city that has left voters frustrated. #Elections2024

📹 – Supplied pic.twitter.com/g6dDAMgA5q

— Polokwane Observer (@PolokwaneObserv) May 29, 2024

In a case where the recount still isn’t balancing, Van der Walt said they will refer to the numbers on the ballot papers to see if it matches to the numbers in the ballot book.

Earlier, the IEC’s assistant manager for outreach Motsiri Ramafalo told the Polokwane Review-Observer that the IEC thanks voters for remaining in queues to cast their votes and not giving up.

“It (long queues and delays) is not something that we were expecting. We had issues with our machines in the morning and that was resolved towards midday,” he said.

Counting continues at the ROC.