We may fondly recall the snaking queues of 1994 as South Africans cast their first democratic vote… but that doesn’t mean we want to experience them again.
Thankfully, since 1994, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has made a name for itself by upping its game every election. Most voting seasons see South Africans emerging with pride in our efficient voting systems.
But Wednesday’s was a miss. Many voters queued for hours more than they usually did and were stuck in the queue hours past 9 PM when voting closed. (Those in the queue are still allowed to vote no matter how long it takes). So what went wrong? There were a number of factors at play:
- Technical issues: The voter management devices that scan a voter’s name against the voter roll didn’t work properly, and officials were slow to switch to a manual system. When they did, they had to manually search through printed lists for each person’s name and cross it out.
- New rules: The commission had to contend with an onerous change just before the election—the courts allowing independent candidates to contest nationally, meaning creating three ballots instead of two for each voter. A rules amendment requiring that you could only vote at the station you registered at added to the stress. All of this conspired to slow down the process, as not enough voter education was done because…
- Budget cuts: Fin24’s Carol Paton reports that the IEC will face a total of about R270m in budget cuts between 2019 and 2026 as the government implements austerity measures due to our poor economic circumstances. Thankfully, the commission was able to dig into previous savings to plug the R30m hole in this year’s budget for the election and associated activities—which came at a price tag of about R2.4bn. But it still meant their capacity to run this election was constrained.
However, one other factor contributing to Wednesday’s inefficient voting is a good one— a higher voter turnout than 2019’s 66% is expected for these elections, according to the IEC. 🙌
Of course, there are those who would suggest something dodgy is at play and forces at work to corrupt the election outcome. Former president Jacob Zuma’s MK party has already made noises in this direction. But this is pure fake news. As journalist Mandy Wiener puts it: “The elections are not being ‘stolen’. The IEC has a highly regarded reputation for running free and fair elections over the past thirty years and there is no reason to impugn that reputation or to assume the worst.”
Getting a population and politics as divided as South Africa to agree on an election outcome is no mean feat, never mind running the election itself in a largely developing country with infrastructure challenges, plus the challenges of voter education. It may not have been the best election, and we’re devastated that so many voters turned around and went home after waiting too long. But well done to all of you who pushed through and made your mark in the country’s most crucial election since 1994. 💪
