Thousands of prisoners registered to vote on #Elections2019
Johannesburg - Up to 11 000 prisoners have registered to vote next week with the most being in Gauteng followed by KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State.
In January, the Electoral Commission had appealed to family members of prisoners to take their ID documents to correctional service facilities in order for them to register.
Chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo at the time had said that most offenders do not keep their ID documents with them and they are often kept at home by family members and this had hampered the ability of those incarcerated to register.
According to the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), there are about 160 000 offenders including remand detainees in South Africa’s 240 prisons.
For the last 20 years, the IEC said it has worked with the DCS to afford inmates an opportunity to vote in line with their Constitutional Rights.
Graphic: Elvin Nethononda
Meanwhile, May 6 and 7 over 770 000 people are expected to cast their ballots at the voting stations.
The IEC this week announced that the number of registrations for special votes had increased by 30 000 compared to 2009 and a large percentage of applications was via online.
The Eastern Cape is said to be the province with the highest number of home visits while Gauteng has the highest number of voting station visits.
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