Issues around address information on the voters roll are threatening to impact the forthcoming local elections.
Issues around address information on the voters roll are threatening to impact the forthcoming local elections.
Around eight million people registered on the roll have no conventional address information against their name. A further eight million have only a partial address.
Last month, the Electoral Court ruled in favour of a group of independent candidates seeking to postpone by-elections in Tlokwe (Potchefstroom) who said that the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) had not sufficiently complied with a November 2015 Constitutional Court ruling which said that addresses of voters must be included in the voters roll. The independent candidates brought the action because of concerns that the ANC was liable to move people into certain wards in order to affect the vote in those wards and, without sufficient address information, there is nothing to stop this happening.
This may have a longer term implications for the municipal elections due to take place before mid-August this year.
At the end of February, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) held a meeting to review the Court's ruling in order to assess those implications.
At the meeting the Commission resolved to:
* Instruct the Electoral Commission’s legal team to prepare an urgent appeal of the Electoral Court order at the Constitutional Court
* Embark on a variety of initiatives to update the voters’ roll with as many addresses for voters as possible ahead of the upcoming by-elections and this year’s Municipal Elections
* Continue with all preparations for the 2016 Municipal Elections as planned – including the voter registration weekends.
On the first resolution, the Commission deliberated on the Electoral Court order in conjunction with the Constitutional Court ruling of 30 November 2015. It was guided in this regard by legal opinion of its senior counsel.
A number of uncertainties have arisen following the differences in interpretation of the Constitutional Court ruling including, among others:
* Whether the judgment of the Constitutional Court with regard to the capture of addresses for voters is prospective or retrospective in as far as it relates to voters who were on the voters’ roll prior to 30 November 2016.
* Whether the lack of an address on the voters’ roll invalidates that voters’ roll.
* Whether the term “where available” in the legislation relates to the address being available to the Electoral Commission or available to the voter.
The Commission believes that an appeal to the Constitutional Court will serve to provide the necessary clarity and certainty regarding its original ruling and the obligations of the Electoral Commission.
At the same time, the Commission resolved to embark on a variety of initiatives to update and enhance the entire voters’ roll with the addresses and/or location of voters wherever possible.
The Commission noted that since the inception of the voters’ roll in 1998 the Electoral Commission has held the view that disenfranchising a voter on the basis of a lack of a formal address is unacceptable in a country where there are millions of people who live in informal settlements and in rural communities.
This policy of inclusivity has resulted in South Africa enjoying one of the highest levels of voter registration in the world – especially for a developing country – with an average of 80 percent of eligible voters registered.
Following the Constitutional Court judgment in November, the Electoral Commission had undertaken a range of initiatives to ensure that all new registrations include address details or at least sufficient particulars of the voters’ location to place them in a voting district.
These measures included introducing a new supplementary form to the registration process for voters who do not have a conventional address in which they can affirm their location in a voting district.
At the meeting, the Commission resolved to do everything in its power to encourage all voters to update their details on the voters’ roll ahead of the 2016 Municipal Elections.
LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER
The final voter registration weekend for this year's elections will take place this weekend – 9 and 10 April – where all polling stations will be open between 8am and 5pm for people to register or to check their details.
All voting stations will be open from 8am to 5pm on both Saturday and Sunday.
When the time comes to vote in the election, you must vote at the voting station where you're registered and you must register in the voting district where you live most of the time.
If you don't know where the nearest voting station to your home is, then the IEC has a 'voting station finder' on its website.
You'll find it here:
http://maps.elections.org.za/vsfinder/.
Unsure whether you're registered or not? Go here:
ttps://www.elections.org.za/content/For-voters/My-voter-registration-details/
