IEC spokesperson, Elken Topken, told OFM News at the Results Operations Centre (ROC) in Kimberley that although this happened, the incident is really not unusual, especially during events such as the elections. 

He says IEC officials in the province will take this as a learning curve to better prepare for the main municipal elections on Monday, where thousands of voters in the province are expected to flock to different voting stations to cast their votes. 

Topken says all the stations opened on time today and that home visits also went well. 

He added that unlike the rest of the country, the province was successful with the special vote turnout as 40% of 93 000 special voters had been able to cast their votes on Saturday.

"The more successful area was our home visits. We had 60% of the 32 000 home visits that we were able to process on Saturday and the remainder will be completed on Sunday. 

"The problem was with voting stations, you don't have control over them, we are dependent on the voters to come and cast their votes. But we are still hopeful and we really urge those applicants whose names are on the voting station's list for special votes, to come out today," he says.

OFM News previously reported that approximately 623 000 registered voters in the province are expected to cast their votes on Monday at one of the hundreds of voting stations.

There are 728 voting stations across the province, stretching from Port Nolloth, down to Sutherland, Colesburg and up to Heuningvlei.

Meanwhile, the IEC's national headquarters has previously declared its state of readiness. The electoral commission said over 1.7 million voters had registered nationally during the special two-day registration weekend which took place from 18 to 19 September 2021.

OFM News