New election bill could end voters queue-hopping

SHOPPING for shorter queues during the elections in order to cast a ballot quicker could soon be something of the past.

This emerged when the security and justice select committee yesterday was briefed on the Electoral Laws Amendment Bill.

The bill was passed by the National Assembly last week and then referred to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) for consideration.

It seeks to amend the Electoral Commission Act, the Electoral Act, and the Local Government: Municipal Electoral Act.

In terms of the bill, voters can cast their ballots at voting stations where they are not registered.

Chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said voters unable to vote in their voting district can cast their ballot in another voting district provided they notified the chief electoral officer in a prescribed manner.

Mamabolo said there was a dangerous phenomenon which undermined and eroded the credibility of the voting process where people went to any voting station or shopped around for shorter queues.

“The shopping for queues undermines the integrity of logistical plans and hence you hear ballot papers are finished and there are no VEC 4 forms. It is undesirable in orderly conducting of voting,” he said.

“This breeds ground for people to claim in social media to have voted twice,” Mamabolo said.

He also said the bill also provided for voters appearing on the country's voters roll to notify the chief electoral officer if they wished to cast ballots overseas.

Expatriates, who are on the voters roll for persons ordinarily resident at a place outside South Africa, would need to present themselves at the embassy on the election day.

Mamabolo also said there was a provision that provided for the determination of the number of seats in the legislatures.

Since 1999, the number of seats have remained the same in all nine provinces despite the significant movement in the population.