You can still register as a voter

PROSPECTIVE voters who have not yet registered with the Independent Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) have been given until the end of May to do so, in order to participate in next year’s general elections.

IEC spokesperson Thabani Ngwira said yesterday that the exact number of people who visited voting stations at the weekend would only be available next week. He said only preliminary numbers were available.

“Our preliminary figures in KwaZulu-Natal show that about 463 000 registered and eligible voters visited our voting stations, however this cannot be confirmed as our local offices are still busy uploading the scanners on the system and reconciling a concise voter turnout figure.

“This information will only be available once these processes have been completed,” Ngwira said.

The IEC had expected more than 1.4 million people in KwaZulu-Natal, whose residential addresses could not be verified, to visit the province’s 4 793 voting stations.

The IEC was compelled to comply with a court order to hold a special period for voters to register their names, and also verify their residential addresses.

The Constitutional Court two years ago ordered the IEC to make sure that voters’ residential addresses were registered in their voting areas to avoid corruption during the elections.

Ngwira said registration was still open and that people could visit the IEC’s offices closet to them, describing it “as an ongoing process”.

IEC centres are open between 8am and 5pm from Monday to Friday to verify voter details.

Registered voters can also SMS their ID number to 32810 to receive an SMS with their voter registration details (charged at R1).