When:
Tuesday, 02 August 2016 8:00 AM
-
5:00 PM
Special votes will be cast on 1 and 2 August 2016.
Election officials will visit the addresses provided by voters who
applied for home visits at some point over these two days. They will only visit
the address once. If the voter is not present, they will not be able to cast a
special vote. These voters ought to be home as home visits are reserved for
those largely unable to travel.
Those who applied to cast
a special vote at their voting station must do so between 8am and 5pm on Monday
1 August or Tuesday 2 August. (Note: These are different from the voting hours
of 7am to 7pm on Election Day.)
A voter whose application
for a special vote was approved but who for whatever reason was unable to cast
a special vote may still cast their ballot at their voting station on Election
Day.
Special votes are
available for all registered voters including disabled, infirm and pregnant
voters as well as members of the security forces, election officials, the media
and any other voters who are unable to visit their voting station on Election
Day – 3 August 2016.
The special voting process
is subject to all the same security and integrity protocols of normal voting –
including scrutiny by party agents and observers – along with additional checks
including a double envelope system which allows the special votes to be
reconciled against the voters’ roll and special vote application system but
still protects the secrecy of the voter’s ballot.
All special votes
collected are stored securely overnight on 1 and 2 August – and are then
opened, reconciled and added to the ordinary ballots cast on 3 August before
counting begins.