Central SA
IEC to urgently audit votes to check for double voting─── 14:47 Thu, 09 May 2019
The Electoral Commission (IEC) will undertake to conduct an urgent audit in order to ascertain where double votes may have taken place.
This was announced during a press briefing at the Tshwane results operation centre (ROC) on the first day after voting.
May 8 was inundated with reports of irregularities, namely the easily removable indelible ink that has been used as a safeguard over the years to prevent voters from voting more than once.
“The purpose of the audit is to determine the extent of the phenomenon,” explained the Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo.
According to the IEC, VEC4 forms and zip zip scanners in most districts have been returned to head office to assist with the audit process.
Mamabolo assured that additional resources would be deployed to audit the VEC4 forms and zip zip data in order to pick up all the duplicates.
The IEC has not yet identified which audit firm they would be partnering with for this undertaking.
An additional investigation will also be done into indelible ink pens provided and will be conducted in conjunction with the CSIR.
The IEC said the pens were procured through an open tender process and the tender to provide the pens was awarded to a company called Litotec.
It was also revealed that in recent years there has been a change in the chemical concentration of the chemicals used in the pens. The silver nitrate concentration was increased from 15% to 20% and this may have affected the performance of the ink.
Four voters in KwaZulu Natal have since been arrested for double voting and were tracked down using the system’s information, according to the IEC.
IOL, meanwhile, reports that 19 have been arrested for attempting to vote more than once. The IEC, however, says it only has confirmation of four of these.
The body says it will only announce results in locations where they are completely confident that the results are correct.
It was also announced that 90% of the results will be released by 10pm tonight.
The battle for the two key provinces that both the DA and ANC expressed a huge desire to win ahead of elections appears headed for a retention of the status quo, with the ANC hanging on to its majority in the results in Gauteng and the DA doing so for the Western Cape.
The EFF has seen some growth in both provinces, but is particularly making a showing in Mpumalanga, where the Red Berets may replace the DA as the official opposition to the ANC.
