Night-time voting still going strong

GEORGE NEWS - After a very long day at the voting stations, some officials at the George Civic Centre, the Moth Hall and the two voting stations in Denneoord can start to relax while helping the few voters who opted to cast their votes after dark.

However, others seem to have picked up speed with the cooler night air, following a scorching late autumn afternoon, and are now waiting in long queues after a full day’s work to make sure they can cast their vote.

Voting in work uniform

At most polling stations in Pacaltsdorp, things are just now starting to bustle. It would appear that most of the people who are now standing in the long lines worked today.

At VGK Pacaltsdorp there was a long line of people in the line by 18:30, as well as at the St Vincent Pallotti church - some still in their work uniform.

So far, just over 1 018 voters have voted at the VGK and almost 800 at St Vincent Pallotti. At Eagle’s Nest Ministries in Dellville Park, a total of 1 147 voters had already voted by 18:30, and there was also a line.

Many voters are still arriving at the Pine Lodge voting station in Ward 22, with the queue snaking partially around the building. Everyone is calm and the queue is slowly moving.

The ward has about 3 400 registered voters. About 2 700 voters have cast their votes here today. The current turn-around time is about 45 minutes.

Many voters are still arriving at the Pine Lodge voting station in Ward 22. Photo: Kristy Kolberg

Some pick up speed, some taper off

According to Cllr Jackie von Brandis, voter turnout has increased at some voting districts due to people coming from work who are now using the opportunity to vote. “George South, Pine Lodge and Blanco are very busy and queues are long whereas places like the George Civic Centre, Moth Hall and Denneoord are tapering off.”

The presiding officer at Denneoord Primary, Mathemba Lolwana, said despite the notion that they started late this morning, they have in fact started right on time at 07:00.

“We had to help the people one by one, manually, because of some trouble with the VDM machines that kept going offline, and slowing down the process.”

He said the three ballots also made it more time-consuming. A total of 3 544 voters were registered at Denneoord Primary, of which 2 337 have already cast their votes by 18:00.

At the DR Church Denneoord, presiding officer Elza Roets said they too experienced issues with the VDM machines for the first hour of the day. “People also complained a bit because of the hot weather,” she said. This voting station has 1 723 voters, of which 1 290 had voted by 18:30 this evening. About 100 special votes were also cast at the voting station.

Rian Pienaar cast his vote at 18:30 at the DR Church Denneoord. Photo: Michelle Pienaar

Growing in numbers

At the Thembalethu Library the queue of voters is still growing. Presiding officer Nomphelo Masango said they are working very hard to help the voters as quickly as possible. Of the 1 482 registered voters, less than half, 681, have voted by 19:20. “There are still a lot of people in the queue and they keep on coming,” said Masango.

Presiding officer at the voting station at Tyholorha Primary School Amanda Mageduka said the people are coming in their numbers. “From 20:00 you will see, they will keep on coming. There are still a lot of voters in our queue.” The voting station has 2 972 registered voters, of which 1 451 have cast their votes by 19:30.

Section 24

Von Brandis said overall, there haven’t been too many hiccups during the day. “However, there is some confusion around the Section 24 requirement that voters who wanted to vote outside of their province had to apply before 17 May. As a result, there have been quite a number of people from other provinces who were uninformed and thought they would be able to vote but couldn’t.”

Voters still make their mark, after dark.