No age limit for early voting, process open to all registered voters, clarifies IEC

JOHANNESBURG - The Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has clarified there is no age limit to qualify for early voting and that the process is open to all registered voters.

This follows a viral WhatsApp chain claiming people over 60 are automatically registered for early voting.

The IEC says people who will be working on election day – and those who will not be in the vicinity of their designated voting station can apply to vote on the 27th or 28th of May.

The Chapter 9 institution says it has approved over 900,000 early voting applications.

Chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said the first category of early voting is one that is cast at a voting station before election day.
  
“Everybody who is unable to be at the voting station on election day can apply for a special vote and it’s important we emphasise that is not based on age, it is essentially any registered voter who applies.”

Mamabolo said the second and last category of early votes is home visits, where IEC officials visit the homes of registered voters to assist them in casting their votes. 

“It must be persons who are infirm and people who have impaired mobility. Those people can apply to be visited at home. The officials of the IEC in IEC t-shirts will be able to visit them on either of those two days preceding election day.”

Applications for early voting close on Friday at 5pm.