Second and final voter registration weekend for 2024 Elections takes place in February 2024

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has announced the dates for the second and final voter registration weekend ahead of the 2024 National and Provincial Elections (NPE).

In a statement, the IEC said the country’s 23 296 voting stations will open from 08h00 to 17h00 on Saturday 3 February and Sunday 4 February 2024 to allow new voters to register and existing voters to inspect and if necessary update their registration details.

The IEC held its first registration weekend on 18 and 19 November 2023, where the voters’ roll contained 26.8 million voters with 568 374 of those registering for the first time during that period.

COURTESY: IEC

The Electoral Commission hopes that the second registration weekend will build on and surpass the satisfactory turn out recorded in November.

‘’Citizens aged 16 years and older can register to vote. All they need are a South African identity document (ID), either a green barcoded ID book, smartcard ID or a valid temporary ID certificate. When registering, voters will need to provide their address or a description of where they live to allow the Electoral Commission to place them on the correct segment of the voters’ roll. However, proof of an address is not a requirement to register as a voter,’’ said Sy Mamabolo, National Chief Electoral Officer.

Similarly, South Africans living abroad will have an opportunity to register at South Africa’s 120 high commissions, embassies and consulates on 26, 27 and 28 January 2024.

‘’The Electoral Commission wishes to acknowledge and communicate its appreciation to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) for its continued collaboration in ensuring the sustained franchise of South Africans abroad.’’

The IEC has introduced a new and additional voter registration modality for South Africans living abroad. For the first time, South Africans abroad may now register as voters using the online self-registration portal by visiting https://online.elections.org.za/voterportal and capturing their details and uploading a scanned image of their identity document.  The portal will extend convenience to this category of voters.

 Back home, and voter registration will also be conducted in correctional centres around the country to allow inmates to exercise their right to vote, between 30 January and 1 February 2024

‘’Working with the Department of Correctional Services, the Commission will undertake the registration of inmates in the correctional centres… Family members of those who are incarcerated in correctional facilities are requested to deliver the identity documents of inmates to them ahead of this registration drive,’’ said Mamabolo.

The Electoral Commission says it will retain its youth focus and urging young, first-time voters to register for the 2024 elections.

It added that the online voter registration portal remains available until the date of proclamation of the elections for first-time voters to register and for those who are already registered to update their registration details.

Registered voters can visit the Electoral Commission website (www.elections.org.za) to check their current registration details and voting station location. They can also SMS their ID number to 32810 to receive an SMS containing the address of their voting station (charged at R1).

 

Done By: Mitchum George