Concerns on election day

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ELECTION NEWS AND VIDEO - Western Cape electoral officer Courtney Sampson has conceded the IEC had not realised the extent to which voters would make use of voting stations other than the ones at which they had registered to cast their vote.

He said this had impacted on the time it took voters to move through the voting station and had affected the time voters had to spend in the queues before they could vote.

"Voters had to fill out a special form that allowed them to vote at a different voting station. This affected the time it took voters to move through the voting station."

Another concern was a shortage of ballot papers at a number of polling stations.
This, Sampson emphasised, was not a widespread problem.

"To replenish stock requires the police to escort IEC staff to the relevant voting stations. I commend the IEC staff for the manner in which they dealt with the problem," Sampson said.

A number of voters, especially in Gauteng, reported that the ink used to mark their thumb washed off soon after voting. Sampson said the problem may have resulted from the presiding officer at certain voting stations having used the wrong pen.

"There is a difference between a permanent marker and a pen with indelible ink." He added that the Western Cape IEC had received complaints in this regard and he said voters may have been trying to “show up the system”.

But, he indicated that a full investigation into the matter would follow and that the media would be given a full report at the next media briefing scheduled for 22:00 tonight.

Sampson also highlighted other rumours circulating on social media, among which was the need for a ballot paper to be stamped on both sides. This he said was fake news. Responding to media questions, Sampson said that, roughly speaking, 20% to 25% of voters had voted by about 15:30 today. He added that this compared well with records from previous elections.

Watch a video below.