Over 23000 complaints already
COPE’s Deidre Carter tells how she went to 5 voting stations and could have voted in all five if she wanted to, as she was given the sticker in each station. Also she brought Domestos to show how easy it is to remove the “indelible” ink.
On Wednesday 8 May South Africans took to the polls in the 2019 elections. Reports are growing of voters describing how easily the ink was removed from thumbs, and cases of people attempting to vote more than once. Cope’s Deidre Carter talks to CapeTalk’s Lester Kiewit about problems she experienced with both ink and the zip-zip machine scanning process.
She says after the ink easily rubbed off her thumb and she tested if she could have committed voter fraud and was shocked at the outcome. She went to a different voting station with her now clean thumb and says she could easily have voted numerous times after her ID was scanned, again and again, receiving 4 more slips from zip zip machines.
I went through the zip-zip machine and was told, yes you can go and vote.
She called the presiding officer and explained what had happened and raised her serious concerns. Theoretically, she could have voted five times.
If you have voted, the zip-zip should say you have already voted.
— Deidre Carter, Member of Parliament – Cope
Unfortunately, the outdated devices used in South African elections for years, are not linked to a central online system
Read: Ink washing off thumbs raises alarm bells of being able to vote more than once
Cope has made a formal complaint to the IEC.
We’ve logged it on the system and reported it on a national basis.
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Now EWN reports the IEC has admitted it cannot say with certainty that the ink placed on thumbs cannot be removed, but has promised there are security measures to avoid people cheating the system.
Department of Political Sciences Dirk Kotze at the University of South Africa (Unisa) Dirk Kotze discusses the issue with Bruce Whitfield.
There have been similar complaints about the ink over the years and one would think a more sophisticated ink could have been developed by now.
But Kotze says what would be preferable would be no ink at all.
There should be a different system where the ink is not necessary.
— Dirk Kotze, Department of Political Sciences – Unisa
And the way to do that is to change Section 24 (a) of the Electoral Laws Amendment Bill.
It states that someone can vote in a voting district other than where they are actually registered.
— Dirk Kotze, Department of Political Sciences – Unisa
Today many voted outside of their registered district, including Cyril Ramaphosa and Mmusi Maimane who voted in Soweto where neither resides.
The issue only applies to national and provincial elections, as in municipal elections one has to vote in the ward in which one lives.
This may well have led to shortages of ballot papers at some voting stations.
It is not the first election where this is the explanation for the shortage of material and especially ballot papers – this flexibility that has been built in.
— Dirk Kotze, Department of Political Sciences – Unisa
The existing registration devices popularly known as zip-zip machines are not linked to an online system.
So if you vote in one voting district nothing prevents you from voting at another district.
— Dirk Kotze, Department of Political Sciences – Unisa
Kotze says the IEC has again raised the need to revisit the issue and tighten up the process to prevent these kinds of problems in the future.
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INK – EN GEEN KONNEKSIE VAN IDENTITEITSDOKUMENTE MET ENIGE STELSEL
NO LINKS TO SYSTEMS – NO ID AND NO INK
THAT WAS WHY PEOPLE VOTED 100 TIMES AND EVEN MORE
IFP – Buthelezi – Mandlakazi, Nongoma
Tampered ballot papers – SA – 2019
IEC – South Africa – duplicates
