Western Cape Provincial Electoral Officer Michael Hendricks
It is all systems go for the Independent Electoral Commission in the Western Cape when it administers the special votes today and tomorrow.
Speaking at the launch of the provincial Results Operations Centre at Century City yesterday, Provincial Electoral officer Michael Hendricks said they have just under 300 000 special votes approved.
Hendricks said about 72 000 of the special votes are going to be home visits.
“We have recruited 1 850 special vote teams. These are electoral officials that will be going out to those homes. Many of them, I must say are, for example, retirement homes but we will nonetheless be visiting them so that they can cast their ballots,” he said.
Voting stations open on election day
He clarified that about 225 000 of the special votes will be done at voting stations.
“Our voting stations will open at 8am until 5pm."
Hendricks added that individuals who applied for special votes but won't cast their special votes today and tomorrow, will still get a chance to vote on Wednesday at their voting stations.
“If you don't make it for some reason, you can always come. Anybody can come on Wednesday as a normal election day and they don't need permission. They simply arrive at their voting station and then cast their ballots.”
Hendricks said Mossel Bay had the highest number of special votes.
“There is a particular voting district that has over 500 home visits that we need to do.”
Ballot selfies are prohibited
Commenting on security at voting stations, Hendricks said they have been working with SAPS on security at voting stations.
“There will be at least one officer at a voting station. Obviously, if the area is a bit of a high risk, they will increase their presence,” he said.
“SAPS also has additional members on standby in the event of something happening they can then also respond quicker and deal with that,” added Hendricks.
Hendricks reminded voters that it is a criminal offence to take a selfie with a ballot paper showing how one voted.
“They are not allowed to use a camera. When a voter takes a photo, even if it's their own ballot paper, you are in fact infringing on the secrecy of the ballot and the overall credibility.
"Imagine what will happen if everybody starts taking photos. We just need to make sure that the secrecy of the ballot isn't compromised,” said Hendricks.