Elections.org – Cybersurf
26 January 2004

Hello, good morning and welcome to Cybersurf, a weekly review of what’s hot on the Internet. I am Steven Lang.

This weekend, eligible South African voters were invited to check the voters rolls, and make sure they were registered ahead of this year’s national elections. Polling stations were opened for the convenience of our citizens and the Independent Electoral Commission – or IEC - had a massive publicity campaign trying to get the millions, yes, literally millions, of still unregistered voters to participate in our democracy.
The easiest way to check if you are properly registered is online at the www.elections.org.za web site. I am pleased to say that the site fully lives up to expectations in terms of functionality, lay-out and useful content.
I decided to check my own registration yesterday morning, and believe me it was very easy – all I had to do was type in my ID number and within seconds – on screen, it confirmed my name and address as well as my ward number and the full address of the school where I am supposed to vote.
The verification process is clean and easy – unfortunately you cannot register online, nor will you be able to vote online – yet!
The site also has a very useful FAQ section, explaining many of the obscure electoral rules – such as: will you able to vote if you turn 18 on the day of the actual election?

However, one part of the FAQ contradicts the front page of the site which tells us that this past weekend was the last chance to register. The FAQ says that you can still register, or update your details at the Municipal Electoral Offices during office hours – and, I believe that you can register to vote until the voting rolls are closed. So, when is it really your absolute, final, last chance to update the voters roll? Well, the elections.org.za site says that the voters’ roll closes officially at five pm on the day that the President proclaims the election.

Even if you are sure about your registration, the elections.org.za site is well worth the visit if you have any interest in the upcoming elections. It has the list of registered parties, the complete results of the most recent elections; information on how you could go about registering your own party; all the legislation surrounding the election process and a vacancies section if you happen to be looking for a job at the IEC.
That wraps up our broadly positive review of the IEC site at elections.org.za – hope you are registered, but if you’re not, then rush along to your nearest municipal electoral office – the president is sure to announce an official election date soon.
With that public service message, I will take leave of you for this week – be sure to join me again next Monday for more Cybersurf.