On Wednesday 3 August 2016 in the Eastern Cape Province 4669 voting stations in 715 wards will open at 7AM and close at 7PM.
The voting hours have been shortened compared to National Elections because voter participation data from previous elections shows that less than 1% of voters cast their ballot after 19h00. Currently the province sits at 3.3 million registered voters since the proclamation of Local Government Elections 2016.
A total of 4699 Presiding Officers, 4802 Deputy Presiding Officers, 717 Area Managers and 18666 Elections Staff have been recruited and trained to manage these elections. The election staff at the voting stations has been trained to perform their duties with diligence, commitment and responsibility.
Also it has been emphasised that they treat all electorate with respect and dignity; to practise impartiality and most importantly to manage the elections guided ONLY by the legislation.
There are 3 municipalities with mobile voting stations i.e. Sakhisizwe, Camdeboo and Amahlathi Municipalities.40 Parties and 166 Independents will be contesting the Municipal Elections in the Eastern Cape.
The Buffalo City Metro has the shortest PR ballot paper compared to other metros countrywide with 12 parties contesting the Elections. 19 Parties in the Nelson Mandela Metro will be contesting in these elections. Provincial candidates stand at 8493 i.e 4057 PR Candidates; 4270 Ward Candidates and 166 Independents.
In this province 71 111 voters have been approved for Special Votes; 46 881 will be visited at home and 24 230 will visit voting stations on Special Votes Days on 01 & 02 August from 8AM to 5PM.
On security matters; to keep peace, law and order the South African Police Service will deploy at least 2 SAPS members in all voting stations. On Special Votes Days the SAPS has committed to their members patrolling and accompanying election staff during home visits. The IEC working together with SAPS regarding security is also prioritising those voting stations that challenged the two Registration Weekend Events.
The Provincial Results Operations Centre is based at the ICC hotel in East London and is being officially launched on 31 July 2016.There are three types of ballots involved in the municipal elections and they are color coded i.e. WARD Ballot Paper (this ballot will have a grey/white background) and every voter will receive a ward ballot paper; COUNCIL PR Ballot Paper (this ballot will have a yellow background), every municipality (be it a metro or a normal local council) will receive a Council Ballot Paper; thirdly, a DISTRICT COUNCIL PR Ballot Paper (this ballot will have a green background), every voter in a local municipality will also receive a District Council (DC) PR ballot paper.
A voter that does not appear in the voters’ roll for the voting district where they applied to register to vote and they have a barcode sticker in their identity document that was provided to them by the IEC when they applied to register to vote; that sticker proves that they applied to register for that voting district, they will be allowed to vote.
That voter will be required to complete an MEC 7 form and will then vote normally.
Voters who were given a separate receipt of registration when they registered using a smartcard – should bring this receipt with them. Please note that proof of application for registration is limited to the sticker granted when applying to register to vote.It is important to note that Electoral laws prohibits party agents or candidates from wearing any political party affiliated clothing or regalia inside a voting station on Election Day. BUT the electoral laws DO NOT PROHIBIT ordinary voters from wearing political part clothing or regalia.A voter does not need an address to vote in this election; in its ruling on 14 June 2016 the Constitutional Court ruled that the requirement that the voters’ roll contain addresses for voters was suspended for 2016 Municipal Elections.
The Constitutional Court ruled that for all future elections the voters’ roll MUST contain the addresses of voters where these are reasonably and objectively available.
No proof of address is required to vote.In order to vote the voters must be in possession of a valid official South African ID documents namely either:A green barcoded ID book or A Smartcard or A valid Temporary Identity Certificate.
To find their correct voting station voters can:? SMS their ID number to 32810 (Cost R1) to receive information of their voter registration details including the name of their voting station? Call 0800 11 8000 (7am to 9pm weekdays).? Dial *120*432# and follow the prompts? Visit website www.elections.org.za?
