Are you free to volunteer for vote-counting duty?
Bryanston is invited to join the count voluntarily.
As stressful as it is deciding whom to vote for this year in the upcoming presidential elections, those who work behind the scenes in the weeks surrounding May 29, will have the hardest roles to play in regulating the process to keep it fair and honest.
Ward 104 councillor Lynda Shackleford has appealed to Region E community members to step up and volunteer at their communities’ voting stations to help things run along smoothly at the ballot points.
“The IEC officials work the whole way through. They have a half-an-hour break, and then they start counting unless it’s 05:00 in the morning,” Shackleford said. “The IEC need volunteers, but the ward councillors need help, too.”
Shackleford said IEC workers and volunteers are also humans, and mishaps can occur – which is why parties require volunteers to help on voting day at stations.
“The reason we need help is – just in my ward, I have five stations. I need to ensure that what happens is free and fair. I need to make sure, not because the IEC is corrupt or anything, that everyone’s ballot gets stamped; and that everyone’s fingers get marked, because we get tired and we do stupid things. It’s always little things that happen.”
Shackleford emphasised that all the parties need their members to volunteer to assist with having the elections run without incident.
“All political parties actually have their own realm of volunteers, and their own realm of party agents. But just for myself, I need 250 volunteers.
“At the last election, I was lucky if I got 30 people stepping up, putting up their hands and saying ‘Hey, I’ll help’. You’ve got to be able to watch and count.”
The councillor invites anyone in Sandton looking to volunteer over the election period to contact her.
“Look, we are party driven. Remember, front-of-house people do wear their colours. On election day, it is political.”
To volunteer in Bryanston, contact Lynda Shackleford on 082 994 2067.
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