Western Cape voting: IEC geared for voter registration weekend
The Independent Electoral Commission in the Western Cape will be opening all its 1572 voting stations this weekend and are ready to assist eligible voters.
It’s all systems go for the Voter Registration Weekend on 18 and 19 November, the Electoral Commission in the Western Cape says.
The IEC in the Western Cape will be opening all its 1 572 voting stations across the province on Saturday and Sunday.
Voting stations will be open from 8 am until 5 pm
At a media briefing on Thursday, the IEC said the stations will be open from 8 am until 5 pm on both days.
“We have recruited 4 698 staff for our voting stations for the registration weekend, of which 2 707 are unemployed. Of our staff, 2096 are under the age of 35 years while the majority of the staff (3646) are female, and we have 63 persons with disabilities,” the Western Cape IEC said.
Of the 1572 voting stations, 29 are temporary structures and 687 are schools. The other stations include community halls or libraries and church buildings.
“We are deploying 3144 Voter Management Devices (VMDs) used to register voters. The VMD is a portable tablet device with the latest app upgrades and batteries charged – a fully charged VMD can operate offline for approximately 72 hours,” the provincial office of the IEC said.
The IEC conducted a national VMD dry run on 28 October 2023 as part of the preparations for the registration weekend and this entailed staff being at or inside the locations of the voting stations with the VMDs.
registered voters should check their details
The Western Cape IEC has called on voters who are already registered but have changed their residential addresses, to re-register in order to be allocated to the correct segment of the voters’ roll.
“It is also important that every registered voter check their details to ensure that their current address is correctly reflected and that they know where their voting station is, as in some cases, the venues have changed.
“This will ensure that all eligible voters are able to vote in the upcoming National and Provincial Elections in 2024,” the Western Cape IEC said.
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If a person cannot get to the voting station over this weekend, registration is also done at the local offices of the IEC during office hours.
There is also the convenience and ease of registering online at www.elections.za for a quick and easy registration process.
As of 12 November 2023, there are 3 128 995 registered voters in the Western Cape and this number is expected to increase over the coming weeks.