Electoral Laws Amendment Bill [B33 - 2018]

The Select Committee on Social Services invites you to submit written comments on the Electoral Laws Amendment Bill.

The Amendment Bill seeks:

To amend the—

▪ Electoral Commission Act, 1996, so as to provide for the use of all available sources of data to obtain information necessary for the Commission to compile and maintain the national common voters’ roll; to provide for the electronic submission of party registration applications; to provide for the exclusive jurisdiction of the Electoral Court to adjudicate intra-party leadership disputes that have an impact on the Commission’s preparation for elections; to provide for the prohibition of the use of the name and its acronym, logo, designs or electoral material used or owned by the Commission;
▪ Electoral Act 1998, so as to revise the existing provisions relating to voter registration, voters’ roll, voting districts and voting procedure; to regulate the publication of, and objections to, a provisionally compiled voters’ roll ahead of elections in order to establish a structured process for resolving these objections without jeopardising the preparations for elections; to clarify that the election timetable may include any matter authorised in terms of the Electoral Act; to clarify that the voter’s roll to be used in an election must be that certified by the chief electoral officer for that election; to clarify that the cut-off date for the registration of voters for an upcoming election must be the date of proclamation of an election date; to provide for the chief electoral officer to notify the relevant parties where a candidate’s name appears on multiple party lists and to afford such parties an opportunity to substitute that candidate and re-order their party lists; to repeal the requirement that the identity document of a voter must be stamped as proof of voting; to provide for different voting procedure for voters without addresses on the voter’s roll; to provide for the circumstances under which an agent may object to a voter whose name appears on the segment of the voters’ roll for the voting district in which the voting station is located; to limit the class of persons who may apply for accreditation to provide voter education for an election to juristic persons; to align the provision regarding the circumstances in which new ballot papers may be issued to voters with the provisions of the Local Government: Municipal Electoral Act, 2000; and
▪ Local Government: Municipal Electoral Act, 2000, so as to regulate the publication of, and objections to, a provisionally compiled voters’ roll ahead of elections, in order to establish a structured process of resolving these objections without jeopardising the preparation for elections; to provide for the prohibition of the use of public finances to fund party political campaigns, and to provide for matters connected therewith.

Comments can be emailed to Ms Marcelle Williams at [email protected] by no later than 12:00 on Thursday 20 December 2018.

Enquiries can be directed to Ms Marcelle Williams on tel (021) 403 3799 or cell 083 709 8451


Issued by MP Dlamini, Ms LC, Chairperson: Select Committee on Social Services.


Background
The Electoral Laws Amendment Bill (‘‘the Bill’’) seeks to amend three pieces of legislation, namely, the Electoral Commission Act, 1996 (Act No. 51 of 1996) (‘‘Electoral Commission Act’’), the Electoral Act, 1998 (Act No. 73 of 1998) (‘‘Electoral Act’’) and the Local Government: Municipal Electoral Act, 2000 (Act No. 27 of 2000) (‘‘Local Government: Municipal Electoral Act’’), in preparation of the national and provincial elections, as well as to align the relevant provisions of the legislation relating to the municipal elections.