Voting in the South African General Election 2009
22 Apr
Latest South African Election Results UPDATED HERE.
Well I’ve done my bit today. I woke up late, went to an election station and stood in a massive queue for about 10 minutes before deciding I’d come back later. Last time around I voted towards the end of the day and simply walked in and out. My general perception this time around is that there will be a larger voter turnout than the previous Election in South Africa.
That’s a great thing. I find there is much more awareness this time and my peers are more excited and more motivated to vote. That said there are still the odd few who seem to think it’s a joke not to vote, some using hangovers as excuses, some just plain lazy. Lets hope these aren’t the people moaning over the next four years if things don’t go their way.
I have moved since I registered to vote and had to fill in a rather confusing form to allow for me to vote in my new district. There must be someone somewhere who specialises in fucking official forms up!
This one had a spot for a fingerprint which wasn’t required, as well as the confusing sentence ‘Address where you normally reside’. Surely just ‘Address’ would have worked better?
Other than that, the official who jokingly told me that I needed to pay R50 cos I was at another station was mildly irritating. That’s a little bit in poor taste there fella.
I am glad I delayed the vote till this afternoon as I was in and out in 5 minutes, confusing form and irritating official et al.
I’ve been scanning the papers for initial reactions, and other than a few scare stories of villagers being told to vote ANC and ballot papers being strewn across a street someplace, it all seems to be going along smoothly. It must be rememberd that this is a massive logistical task and there will be the odd hiccup here and there. As a citizen, I’m happy with how it has been conducted so far.
Now we wait for the results.
