The Electoral Commission has decided to give all registered voters in Tlokwe/Ventersdorp Municipality (NW405) a final opportunity to provide address details ahead of the 2016 Municipal Elections.
All 113 voting stations in Tlokwe/Ventersdorp will be open this Saturday 25 June and Sunday 26 June from 8am to 5pm – but only for voters already registered in the municipality’s 34 wards to provide missing address details or to correct their address details on the voters’ roll.
No registrations of new voters will be allowed as the voters’ roll for the elections has been closed. The decision follows last week’s judgment by the Constitutional Court which ruled that the 2016 Municipal Elections may proceed on 3 August 2016 using the current certified voters’ roll – with the exception of Tlokwe.
With regards to Tlokwe, the Constitutional Court ruled that the Electoral Commission “ought not to escape the obligations imposed on it” by the Constitutional Court in the November 2015 Kham judgment and the subsequent ruling by the Electoral Court.
The Electoral Commission has therefore taken the decision to isolate the voters’ roll for Tlokwe/Ventersdorp (NW405) and to allow only these voters already on this voters’ roll a final window to provide their missing address details.
To protect the integrity of the voters’ roll no new registrations of voters will be allowed. However, where existing voters are found to be registered in incorrect voting districts they will be moved to the correct voting districts and informed of this as per the normal process.
To help promote and encourage this opportunity the Electoral Commission will undertake a series of communication and engagement initiatives including sending text messages to those voters without addresses for whom we are able to find contact details. Field workers will also be deployed from today to visit those voters for whom we are able to find an address to confirm its accuracy. They will also distribute pamphlets. Radio and newspaper notices in the wider Tlokwe/Ventersdorp area will also be used over the next few days.
The Electoral Commission appeals to all stakeholder including political parties, candidates and other stakeholders within the Tlokwe/Ventersdorp municipality to assist in spreading the message and encouraging those without addresses to visit their voting station this weekend.
ISSUED BY THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION
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