The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said it will extend the date for the voter registration drive ahead of next year’s general elections. The date for the second voter registration has not been set but the IEC said they will make the announcement soon.
MORE THAN 2,9M REGISTERED TO VOTE OVER THE WEEKEND
Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo said that the commission interacted with 2.9 million voters during the two-day registration weekend. "The majority of voters, 2.7 million, visited voting stations to register, as well as update their details. A total of 196 511 voters used the online portal to do the same," Mamabolo said. He said this was made possible by the Voter Management Device (VMD) which has increased the speed at which voter registration applications are processed. "With the VMD, particulars of voters who attended to voting stations over the weekend have now been processed and address details captured onto the voter’s roll. Before the introduction of the VMD, it would have taken months to capture the address details of voters following a registration event. The VMD processed 834 474 live transactions, while 1 872 352 transactions were captured and later processed," Mamabolo said. According to the commission, the voters’ roll now has 26,8 million voters, an increase from 26.3 million before the registration weekend. Gauteng continues to be inhabited by the majority of the country’s population, as well as being the largest voting block at 6.2 million registered voters.
MORE YOUNG PEOPLE REGISTERED TO VOTE
The commission said it has recorded a significant number of young people during its first voter registration drive this past weekend. Mamabolo added that young people aged between 16 and 29 account for 445 089, or 78.31%, of the 568 374 new voters. "The commission continues to focus on young persons producing a good yield. The commission will persist with efforts to improve the registration levels of the youth," he said. Mamabolo added that of the new registrations, 298,500 were female. "The well-entrenched trend of there being more females on the voters’ roll continues. Of the new registrations 52.52%, were female," said Mamabolo.
