IEC will provide branded materials for voting abroad

The Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) will provide SA voting booths and material to missions abroad and will not ask host countries to do so.

This is after confusing instructions were sent to SA missions abroad to request that their host countries’ own election entities assist SA with materials — apparently due to cost-saving measures.

The IEC has since responded that it is customary for sister election management bodies to “loan” voting booths and ballot boxes to one another in support of out-of-country voting.

“The IEC can confirm that in preparation for the 2024 national elections it has made arrangements to supply all the requisite materials to missions abroad accredited as international voting stations,” it said in reply to an earlier request for comment on the confusing initial instructions.

Business Day reported last week that this caused confusion among diplomats. In the past, the IEC always provided standardised and branded materials to identify and safeguard the ballot boxes according to SA standards.

Diplomats said it would have been awkward for SA voters to cast their votes in boxes and booths branded with another country’s election commission.

Their bigger concern was that the ballots cast and the integrity of the votes would be doubted because one country’s materials would differ vastly from another.

According to the IEC, all the voting materials will, in conjunction with the department of international relations & co-operation, be couriered abroad well ahead of May 17 or 18. Missions can decide which of the days will serve as voting day.

Standardised voting booths, ballot boxes and papers, stationery packs and the relevant segments of the voters’ roll to each mission will be provided by the IEC.

“On conclusion of the voting process, cast ballots will be transported through a secure channel back to the national office of the electoral commission for counting,” it stated.

“Voting out-of-country is considered a special vote. In a change from previous years, not all voters who intend voting out-of-country are required to apply for a special vote online, known as a VEC 10 application. Completion of this form informs the electoral commission of their intention to vote abroad by indicating the mission at which they will be voting. Applications opened on February 23 2024, the date on which the national election was proclaimed.

“A voter who is registered to vote out-of-country and intends voting at the accredited mission where they are registered to vote is not required to submit an online VEC 10 special vote application.

“Citizens who wish to vote out-of-country in the 2024 national elections must be registered to vote and must be able to produce an SA identity document when voting at an international voting station at an accredited mission. A valid SA passport is no longer required for voting.”