johannesburg – Applications for voters to cast special votes in the 2016 Municipal Elections will open on Friday, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said.
“Special votes are available all registered voters including the disabled, infirm and pregnant voters as well as members of the security forces, election officials, the media and any other voters who are unable to visit their voting station on Election Day 3 August 2016,” said the IEC in a statement on Thursday.
There are two types of special votes – home visits and special voting.
Home visits, which are only available to voters who are disabled, infirm or pregnant involve IEC officials visiting voters at their residences to allow them to cast their ballots.
Special votes at a voting station are only available to registered voters who are unable to vote on 3 August.
The IEC said the special voting days for the municipal elections will be on 1 and 2 August 2016 between 08h00 and 17h00.
“Special votes may only be cast by voters who have applied for and received approval from the Electoral Commission to cast a special vote. Applications open at 08h00 on Friday 10 June 2016 and close at 17h00 on Friday 8 July 2016,” said the IEC.
“For the first time applications for special votes will be available online via the Electoral Commission’s website www.elections.org.za and via cellphone by SMSing the voter’s ID number to 32249 (SMS charged at R1).”
However, the SMS application facility is only available for those applying to cast a special vote at their voting station and not for home visits.
The IEC said once their application has been processed, voters will receive a notification via email or SMS of whether their application for a special vote was successful or not. They can also check the status of their special vote application online at www.elections.org.za.
The traditional method of applying for a special vote at local IEC offices by submitting a MEC35 form is also still available.
Forms must be hand-delivered but can be delivered on behalf of a voter by someone else.
“The process for casting a special vote is the same as a normal vote – with the exception that the completed ballot papers are sealed in an unmarked envelop which is then marked with the voter’s name, ID number and voting district (VD) number. IEC officials take the envelope and place it in a secure ballot box for special votes and the voter’s name is marked off the voters’ roll with ‘SV’ to indicate a special vote,” said the IEC.
“Once voting on Election Day has ended, the outer envelopes of the special votes are discarded and the ballot papers are removed from the unmarked inner envelope and then counted as part of the counting process for all ballots.”
African News Agency