The counting process: How it works

“This is the earliest we have ever managed to close voting stations on Election Day”, said IEC Western Cape’s Provincial Electoral Officer, Courtney Sampson, signalling that election officials did not have to accommodate long queues for hours after the official closing time at 9pm. Sampson was addressing the media at a briefing held in the Western Cape Results Operation Centre in Belville South on Thursday, 8 May. He added that this was also the fastest the IEC had been able to capture results.

People’s Assembly also caught up with Trevor Davids, IEC Western Cape Communications Manager, to ask him exactly how the counting process works. He explained that after polling stations doors are closed “there is a two-phase reconciliation process”.

The first phase has a three-part process: First, the number of people who have voted are crossed off the voters roll, then the number of stubs in the ballot booklet are tallied, and thirdly, the number of provincial and national ballots cast are counted.

Cancelled ballots - where voters have made their mark and then realized they have made a mistake – that are crossed out, marked as cancelled by the Presiding Officer and filed separately, are also captured during the reconciliation process.

Once the observers have agreed that all the ballots have been accounted for, the second reconciliation process takes place, explains Davids. “This is what we call read to stash,” he says, where ballots are looked at and stacked according to political party.

“If there is a dispute and it’s not clear which party is being voted for, it is put to one side and discussed… if the mark cannot be distinguished then the ballot goes to the spoilt ballot stack.”

Once that process is completed the actual counting starts. Ballots are stacked in quantities of 100 per political party stack. Two people then check each ballot. “It’s important to do a cross check. The party agents are also close by to observe the process,” said Davids.

He added, “In areas where there is a narrow margin, party agents can ask for a recount on disputed party stacks”. If a different figure comes up then the stacks in question have to be counted for a third time. This continues until they get the same figure twice.

Once this is completed the results slip is then filled out by the Presiding Officer and signed by the party agents. “There are three [carbon] copies; one is stuck up at the location and two are placed in a double tamper proof bag and escorted by police to the capturing venue, which services a number of polling stations”, Davids explains.

“We have a double-blind capturing system. One slip goes to an auditor and the other to IEC capturers. If two captured results don’t tally, or mirror each other, then that is what they call an exception. To prevent human error the figures are then re-checked before they become verified results”, said Davids. The verified results are then uploaded on the IEC system.

In his briefing Sampson said that the final provincial results for the Western Cape were expected by midday Friday, 9 May. However, Davids cautioned, “This is not a declaration”. The official results are expected to be announced on Saturday from the National Results Operation Centre.