Voting in South Africa’s 7th National and Provincial Elections comes down to one rule: go to the station where your name is on the roll. Election Day fell on 29 May, a Wednesday declared a public holiday, and the Electoral Commission (IEC) spent the run-up repeating that point.
The catch is what happens if you ignore it. A voter who casts a ballot in the province of registration gets three papers: national, regional and provincial. Someone who votes outside that province is handed only the national one.
Who can vote elsewhere
The commission’s statement was blunt. Voters “can only vote at voting districts where they are registered,” it said. One exception exists. People who told the IEC between 15 March and 17 May 2024 that they would be away from their home district, and asked to switch location, were allowed to vote somewhere else on 29 May.
The legal basis is Section 24 (a) of the Electoral Amendment Act. A voter may vote outside the registered district, but must notify the commission before voting day, within the window in the Election Timetable.
Those who did switch had one more job. Their new station does not show up in their registration status, so the IEC told them to check it on the section 24A notification page or on the confirmation notice they received.
Special votes and the clock
Overseas voting had already been completed successfully, the IEC said. From Monday it began serving citizens who qualified for special votes, which ran on 27 and 28 May from 9am to 5pm.
On Election Day itself, stations were scheduled to open at 7am and close at 9pm. The commission promised that no eligible voter would be turned away, and that anyone still in a queue at 9pm would be assisted.
Voters were asked to bring their identity documents and to check their registration details beforehand through the commission’s online voter information page.
The IEC put the number of registered voters at 27.7 million. “Exercising your vote is your right and your civic duty,” it said, calling the poll historic in the 30th anniversary year of South Africa’s electoral democracy.
