The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has conceded discrepancies and inconsistencies on the first day of the special vote.
About 1.6 million SA citizens have registered for the special vote that began on Monday.
Briefing the media at the national Results Operations Centre (ROC), deputy chief Electoral Officer, Masego Sheburi, said not all went smoothly in the elections on day one.
“They were isolated incidents. At 9am there were no ballots at a voting station … A voting station would not have opened when there were no ballot papers,” he said.
“The challenges reported today are not comparable to the number of voting stations we have – we have 22 000 voting stations.”
“An estimated 201 794 voting station visits of special votes were processed in 22 626 service points. A total of 624 593 voters will be visited by 62 000 officials over the two days from the Electoral Commission, accompanied by political party agents and observers, where they are available,” he said.
However “The Star” can reveal that there was no police presence at two voting stations it visited.
It was reported that in some voting stations there was a different voting system. Voters complained that they had to use a double envelope system, with a name and surname.
Other complaints from voters across the country included that political party supporters were campaigning at the gates of voting stations.
Questions sent to the IEC spokesperson as to why that would be the case were not responded to.
“The Electoral Commission is happy with the turnout and urges South Africans to continue to go out in their numbers to vote on May 29,” Sheburi said.
“The commission reminds those who qualified for special votes that they will only be visited at the given address once. If the voter is not present at the given address, they will be able to cast their vote at the voting station where they are registered.
“The commission clarifies that in the instance where a voter has made two transactions, the last will override the first. This is done to protect the integrity of the elections and prevent voters from voting twice.
“Owing to the good preparations, the commission was able to open the majority of voting stations in the Eastern Cape, in the face of protests which had nothing to do with elections.
“Of the 435 voting stations which experienced problems in the morning, only 107 remain closed due to these external factors.
“The commission continues to work with stakeholders to have them open tomorrow.
“The special voting process is subject to all the security and integrity protocols of normal voting, including scrutiny by party agents and observers where present.
“Special votes will be reconciled against the voters roll and the list of approved special votes. Additional checks include the use of the double envelope system, which allows us to still preserve the secrecy of the voter’s ballot.
All special votes collected are stored securely overnight on May 27 and 28, will be transported to voting stations on 29 May 29, to be opened, reconciled and added to the ordinary ballots cast on May 29 before counting begins,” Sheburi said.
The Star