IEC hires 69,000 more people to assist with vote counting
In a media briefing earlier on Tuesday, IEC said the addition of the regional ballot has necessitated for more counting staff.
FILE: An electoral commission official verifies sealed ballot boxes at the Fordsburg Primary School polling station under the supervision of party delegates in Johannesburg on 1 November 2021. Picture: Emmanuel Croset/AFP
JOHANNESBURG - The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has hired an additional 69,000 people to assist with vote counting.
For the first time ever, there will be three ballots in the general elections instead of two.
In a media briefing earlier on Tuesday, IEC said the addition of the regional ballot had necessitated more counting staff.
In total, the IEC has employed 202,500 voting officials to assist with the administering of the seventh democratic elections.
The commission said it had assigned three counting staff members to each voting station across the country.
Chief electoral officer, Sy Mamabolo, said the commission was trying to decrease the risk of human error.
"We want to improve the quality of the results slips so that they are legible, everybody can read them and they are free of material error."
The IEC has set 2 June as a provisional date for the announcing of election results.
ONE BALLOT FOR SOUTH AFRICANS ABROAD
The IEC said the almost 80,000 South Africans casting their ballot abroad would only receive a single ballot to vote.
The electoral commission said they would not be receiving the regional and provincial ballots since that’s only reserved for current occupants.
Voting abroad is set to run between Friday and Saturday this week.
The IEC said it is expecting over 76,000 people from 111 countries to participate in the upcoming general elections.
"Similarly, persons who are voting outside of their province of registration via Section 24a notifications also receive one ballot. In other words, if I'm Sy Mamabolo, registered in Centurion but on election day I am voting in Botlokwa in Limpopo, then I can't influence the election of the people who are registered in Limpopo," Mamabolo said.