Here’s how many spoilt ballots were previously cast and how they could have mattered

Sitting on the couch on election day is viewed as an apathetic alternative to political participation.

Others, frustrated by what they consider to be a flawed system or a dearth of inspiring options, enter the voting booth with a protest vote on their mind.

Ballots are discarded for several reasons, but the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) recorded 597 192 spoilt votes during the 2021 local government elections.

Rejected ballots range from placing multiple Xs on one ballot, marks that enter two or more boxes, or the appearance of wording or commentary written on the ballots.

Coalitions are expected to be the dominant theme after 4 November, giving every vote cast additional deal-making weight.

Significant potential

Local government elections have historically seen a larger number of spoilt ballots compared to national elections.

The IEC recorded the proportion of spoilt votes in 2021 to be 1.91%, up from 1.83% in 2017, 1.89% in 2011, and another 1.83% in 2006. The highest recorded was 2.36% in 2000.

National election figures were lower, hovering between the 1.55% mark from 1999 and the 1.1% in 2019.

In the 2021 local elections, Gauteng recorded 73 817 spoilt ward and proportional representation (PR) ballots; more than the total number of votes cast for the IFP, Al Jamah-ah, ACDP, and at least 45 other parties.

In KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), where the 2026 margins are expected to be razor-thin, more than 106 000 ward and PR ballots were recorded as spoilt.

Only the ANC, IFP, EFF, National Freedom Party and DA received more votes, making spoilt ballots the sixth most popular choice in KZN five years ago.

The Western Cape had the lowest percentage of spoilt ballots with 1.15% of PR ballots and 1.11% of ward ballots spoilt.

‘Self-indulgence’

Political columnist William Saunderson-Meyer has spoken at length about the importance of voting, suggesting it was a failure of national duty.

He dismissed outright the notion of protest votes, as well as the idea that there was no party worth voting for.

“To spoil your vote when so many died to ensure that you have a vote – and when our country is in such desperate straits – strikes me as the height of self-indulgence.

“I think it bizarre that in an election that features 547 parties and 13 candidates for every seat, some people are so precious that they cannot find anyone remotely simpatico to vote for. It’s idiocy,” Saunderson-Meyer told The Citizen on Tuesday.

The IEC previously explained that while spoilt votes were counted, they were not included in the tally that mattered.

“A spoilt or invalid vote is accounted for in the reconciliation of ballot papers in each voting station, but has no bearing on the aggregation of valid votes.

“Thus, for the person who casts a ballot that is ultimately deemed as invalid, the weight of the effort is the same as that of a person who has not turned out to vote, regardless of whether such a person has registered to vote or not,” the IEC stated.