MIDRAND - The first day of the special voting for the local election got off to a slow start.
A delay in the delivery of ballot papers resulted in a total of 217 voting stations being forced to open later than scheduled on Monday.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) attributed the issue to ballot printing and delivery delays.
READ | Elections 2026: Special voting gets underway on Monday
According to the IEC Deputy CEO for electoral operations, Masego Sheburi, ballot papers were initially supposed to be in storage facilities by 21 October.
However, the Constitutional Court ruling to have the IEC include 181 ANC candidates on the 4 November local elections ballot delayed the process.
“The Commission, in the interest of free and fair elections, administered or admitted other parties and their candidates. There were in total 32 such parties.
"What that meant was that 28-million of the ballots already printed and delivered were no longer fit for this election because they did not contain all the parties that were contesting. In that context, the Commission authorised the reprinting of ballots,” he explained.
At least 33 million ballots had to be reprinted.
Provincial Electoral Officer, Michael Hendrickse said 2 and 3 November 2026 have been set aside for Special Voting and the IEC will fulfil its obligation to make sure voters, who applied for Special Votes, will be able to do so over the two days.
"This is a fluid situation, as these voting stations are opening as ballots are received. Citizens are assured that all security measures are in place for the transport and delivery of the special vote ballots.
“This only affects the Cape Metro and I want to apologise for the inconvenience to our voters," he said.