IEC explains Fraud Claims on moved ballots after home visits
MIDRAND — Videos circulating as evidence of election fraud show officials transferring special votes collected during home visits into the main ballot box at a voting station, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) said on Tuesday. Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo said the transfer is part of the procedure for securing those votes. By midday, more than 1.3 million people had voted over the two days of special voting ahead of Wednesday’s municipal elections.
The IEC’s preliminary figures included about 917,000 people who voted at stations and 421,000 home visits. During a home visit, the marked ballot goes into the prescribed envelopes. Officials transport the votes back to the station, where they transfer them from the carrying containers into the main box for safekeeping until counting. Mamabolo said some political party supporters had shared footage of that step alongside unsubstantiated fraud claims.
Special voters who missed Tuesday can still vote
Approved special voters who could not reach their designated station by 5pm on Tuesday can still vote there on Wednesday, 4 November, Mamabolo said. Voters will receive two or three ballot papers, depending on the municipality where they are registered, and should mark one X on each paper next to their chosen candidate or party.
The commission’s warning concerned the interpretation of the ballot transfers shown in the videos. Anyone who encounters a suspected false election claim online can submit the post to Real411, the independent platform that handles complaints about digital election content.
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