The Electoral Commission (IEC) last week launched an online address capture campaign which will allow South Africa’s 26 million registered voters to check, confirm and update their address details via the Electoral Commission’s website. The facility is available at www.elections.org.za/MyIEC.
According to a press statement from the IEC Centurion headquarters on Wednesday, registered voters with internet access can click, check and confirm their addresses on the online ‘My IEC’ platform. Users will also be able to help friends and firmly to do the same.
“For registered voters who do not have access to the internet, it is proposed to open voting stations during 2018 to allow voters to check and provide address details face-to-face at their voting station,” statement read in part.
The initiative forms part of the ongoing campaign by the Electoral Commission to obtain the addresses for all voters and ensure that they are registered in the correct voting district segments in line with the ruling of the Constitutional Court in June 2016. In its ruling the Constitutional Court granted the IEC a reprieve from this obligation which allowed the 2016 Municipal Elections to proceed but ruled that it must be compliant by June 2018.
The IEC campaign is directed at all registered voters, including those with no address; those whose addresses might be incomplete on the voters’ roll; those who might have moved and need to update their addresses; and even those whose addresses remain the same but have to verify for correctness.
The IEC increased the proportion of complete addresses from 34% of registered voters in March 2016 to 73% of registered voters today; reduced the proportion of incomplete or generic addresses from 34% in March 2016 to 15% currently; and reduced the percentage of registered voters without any recorded address from 32% to around11%.
However, the IEC has yet to obtain addresses for about 3 million voters without any address and provide complete address information for another 4 million voters whose information is incomplete.
The IEC said its online campaign will be supported by a comprehensive communication campaign to explain and promote the facility via various media including television, radio, print and online. The IEC Contact Centre (0800 11 8000) has also been activated Monday to Friday during office hours to assist voters.
