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Local Government: Municipal Electoral Act, 2000 (Act No. 27 of 2000)

Chapter 5 : Voting

47. Voting procedure

 

(1) A voter may vote—
(a) in an election only at the voting station in the voting district in which that voter is registered; and
(b) only once in the election, but, when voting, may cast a vote in each ballot conducted at that voting station.

 

(2) A voter may vote at a voting Station—
(a) on production of that voter’s identity document to the presiding officer or a voting officer at the voting station; and
(b) if that voter’s name is on the certified segment of the voters' roll for the voting district for which that voting station is established.

 

(3) When a voter produces an identity document to a presiding officer or voting officer, that officer must examine the identity document and determine whether—
(a) the voter is the person described in that identity document;
(b) the voter’s name appears on the certified segment of the voters’ roll for the voting district concerned; and
(c) that voter has not already voted in the election.

 

(4) For the purposes of subsection (3)(a), the presiding officer or voting officer may require that the voter’s fingerprints be taken.

 

(5) If the presiding officer or voting officer is satisfied in respect of all the matters mentioned in subsection (3), that officer must—
(a) record that the voter is regarded to have voted in the election;
(b) mark the hand of the voter as described in section 50;
(c) mark the back of the ballot paper or papers to which the voter is entitled with the official stamp for the election; and
(d) hand the ballot paper or papers to the voter.

 

(6) Once the voter has received a ballot paper or papers marked in terms of subsection (5)(c), the voter must—
(a) enter an empty voting compartment;
(b) mark the ballot paper or papers in secrecy in a way that indicates the party or candidate the voter wishes to vote for;
(c) fold the ballot paper or papers to conceal the voter’s vote;
(d) take the ballot paper or papers to a ballot box and show it to the presiding officer or a voting officer in a way that that officer can see the official stamp affixed in terms of subsection (5)(c);
(e) place the ballot paper or papers in the ballot box; and
(f) without delay leave the voting station.

 

(7) The Commission may prescribe a different voting procedure, which must accord with the provisions of this section, for those voters whose names appear on the voters’ roll, without addresses: Provided that if such voter’s place of ordinary residence is located outside the relevant—
(a) ward on whose segment of the voters’ roll that voter’s name appears, the voter concerned may not vote in the ward election contemplated in section 22(1)(b) of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, 1998 (Act No. 117 of 1998);
(b) local or metropolitan municipality on whose segment of the voters’ roll that voter’s name appears, the voter concerned may not vote in the election contemplated in section 22(1)(a) or the ward election contemplated in section 22(1)(b) of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, 1998 (Act No. 117 of 1998);
(c) district municipality on whose segment of the voters’ roll that voter’s name appears, the voter concerned may not vote in the election for members of the district council contemplated in section 23(1)(a) of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, 1998 (Act No. 117 of 1998).

[Section 47(7) inserted by section 20 of Electoral Laws Amendment Act, 2021, Notice No. 321, GG44648, dated 1 June 2021 - effective 27 August 2021, Proclamation R.35, dated 27 August 2021]