Local government elections: Two ballot papers in metros and three in local municipalities

Electoral Commission of South Africa national assistant manager: civic and democratic education Jerry Ramatlhodi says in a metro, a voter will be given two ballots.

One is for the ward candidate, which is grey and white in colour, contested by political parties and independent candidates. The second one (green) is for the proportional representation (PR) vote for the political parties contesting in that particular metro.

As a voter in a local municipality, you will receive three ballot papers: for the ward, which is a grey and white paper, to vote for the ward councillor who is contesting for that particular ward in the municipality.

The second paper, which is green, is for the proportional representation (PR) which is contested only by political parties vying for seats in a particular local municipality.

The third ballot paper, which is yellow, is a district PR ballot for the district municipality.

Ramatlhodi said 40% of the district PR candidates will be voted for in the local municipality on the yellow district PR ballot.

“We need to note that all the ward ballots are grey and white while the local PR and metro PR ballots are green,” he said.

According to Ramatlhodi, a voter without an address in the voters’ roll has to provide an address before he/she can vote. An address will help the Electoral Commission to determine which ballot paper/s the voters qualifies for.

“Some voters may not have given us an address or the address is missing. In that case, we first have to ascertain with the voter’s address before they can be issued with the ballots,” he said.

Some areas may have double column ballots if there are more than 48 candidates contesting in that area.

“For the first time in the history of our democracy, we have introduced a sequence number for each voter, which will help us to quickly find the voter’s name on the voters’ roll.

“The sequence number is unique to the voter and that can also help to eliminate the mistake of marking the wrong voter on the voters’ roll in areas with people who have common names,” Ramatlhodi said.

The sequence number is obtained when the voter checks for his or her registration status through an SMS or at the voting station during on election day.

“Those who did not check themselves or obtain the sequence number need not worry because there will be the Voter Management Device (VMD) inside the voting station,” Ramatlhodi said.

The IEC said a voter can only vote where they are registered.

Those unsure should check exactly where to go by sending a WhatsApp to the IEC on 0600-88-0000, SMS ID number to 32810 at R1 per SMS, or call 0800-11-8000.

The reply will come with the voter’s voting station and voters’ roll sequence number and will be required to give the number to the officials at the voting station.

This way it the voter details will be found faster.