The second leg of voter registration will be held this coming weekend at 23 303 registration stations across the country. The first voter registration was held on November 18 and 19, last year.
The Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo said on Wednesday (January 31) that the Electoral Commission is ready to welcome eligible South Africans to register or check their details ahead of the national elections.
“The Electoral Commission will hold the second voter registration weekend on February 3 and 4, in preparation for the general elections of the National Assembly and Provincial Legislatures,” Mr Mamabolo said.
“We further urge eligible voters to visit the registration stations, to inspect, or update their registration details or to do so online.”
He urged all South Africans to make use of the coming weekend to register for the elections. Registration stations will be open from 8am and close on 5pm on both days. More than 69 718 staff members have been recruited and trained for the voter registration weekend.
“The recruitment criteria for electoral staff was conceived in consultation with the national political liaison committee. The names of trained staff have also been shared with the municipal political liaison committees to facilitate objections against those staff members that are deemed unsuitable. Out of the appointed staff, 53 028 are female and 16 690 are male,” said Mr Mamabolo.
“In addition, 35 640 registration staff are under the age of 35, whilst 26 475 are between the ages 36 and 50. The balance of 7 603 are people who are 51 years old and above. Crucially, 50 213 of the total staff complement are unemployed persons.”
The commission’s collective goal, he said, is to ensure that every one of the eligible voters in South Africa is registered to vote in the 2024 national and provincial elections. Ahead of the second voter registration weekend, Mr Mamabolo reminded voters of the general rule in elections. That is, a person votes at a voting station where they are registered.
The only exception to the general rule is that a voter may vote outside of the voting district of registration only if they have first notified the commission by the date which will be regulated by the Election Timetable.
“The need for this prior notification is new and comes about as a result of the changes to the law. Details of the modalities of this notification will be outlined after the registration process,” he said.
“The success of the first registration weekend was because of the efficiencies brought by the Voter Management Device (VMD). The VMD is the mainstay technology for the delivery of the registration process. Once again, three business applications will be running on the VMD during this weekend.”
The international segment of the voters’ roll for out-of-country registrations stood at approximately 18 000 South Africans ahead of the registration weekend out of the country. Following the registration weekend for out of country citizens, this segment of the roll now stands at 29 318 voters. Out-of-country registrations can still continue via the online registration process that the Commission has developed and which is accessible through the Commission’s website, Mr Mamabolo said.
He said as of Wednesday (January 31), voters can also check their registration status and voting station details via the IEC’s Whatsapp Chatbot on 0600 88 0000.
