Electoral Commission on applications for special votes closing on 3 May

The Electoral Commission reminds voters that the deadline for applications for special votes in this year’s National and Provincial Elections is closing this Friday, 3 May 2024. All applications for special votes, for the purposes of home visits and voting station visits, opened on 15 April 2024 and will close on 3 May 2024.

Home visits are intended for those voters who are unable to travel to voting stations, while special votes at voting stations are for everyone who is unable to be at the voting station on Election Day. Special voting will be conducted on the two days preceding Election Day, on 27 and 28 May 2024, from 9am to 5pm.

Voters can apply as follows:

• Using our secured online application at www.elections.org.za
• By SMSing your identity number to 32249 (R1.00 per SMS) for voting station visit only.
• By visiting your local IEC office and submitting an Appendix 1B form for a voting station special vote.
• By visiting your local IEC office and submitting an Appendix 1A form for a home visit special vote. Forms can also be hand-delivered, and someone else can deliver a form on behalf of a voter.

The Commission wishes to distance itself from a widely circulated message claiming that it has granted permission for everyone over the age of 60 to cast a special vote on 27 and 28 at the polling station where they are registered. This is not a message from the Commission.

The Electoral Commission re-emphasises the general principle of election administration that voters must vote where they are registered. However, in the event a voter intends to be in a different voting district on voting day, such a voter must notify the Commission of their intended absence from their voting district and must identify the voting station where they wish to cast the vote. Known as Section 24A notices, these are live at www.elections.org.za. Notifications in this regard will close on 17 May 2024.

MK Party submission of fraudulent signatures

The Commission has noted media enquiries and reports alleging that the MK Party submitted fraudulent signatures in fulfilment of the candidate nomination requirements. Furthermore, we note that a criminal complaint has been laid with the South African Police Service. The Commission calls on the crime investigation authorities to expedite the investigations in order to establish the verity of the allegations made. An expeditious investigation is essential for the conduct of free and fair elections.

The Commission further confirms that the signature portal of the candidate nomination system verified whether the identity numbers submitted were of registered citizens of the Republic. In other words, this entailed establishing whether the person is a citizen, alive and registered on the voters’ roll. The Commission had indicated in the parliamentary process during debates on the institutionalisation of the signature requirement that it would be impossible to establish whether the signatures proffered were indeed of those persons who purport to have given them.

For media interviews: Please email requests to: spokesperson@elections.org.za