{
  "id": 17843852,
  "title": "Free State IEC flags address discrepancies during special voting",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/02/free-state-iec-flags-address-discrepancies-during-special-voting",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-02T19:20:36.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "SABC News",
    "slug": "sabc-news",
    "url": "https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/free-state-iec-flags-address-discrepancies-during-special-voting/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Electoral Commission (IEC) in the Free State province has identified two major issues that affected voters on the first day of special voting. One concern is discrepancies in voters' residential addresses and their corresponding voting ward allocations. Provincial IEC Manager Itumeleng Liba explained that some voters were asked to provide their addresses before receiving ballot papers. However, when their details were updated, it was found that they were registered in different wards from the voting stations they had visited, resulting in them receiving only one ballot paper instead of the two they were entitled to. Liba further stated that voters without an address on record were requested to provide one before being given a ballot, and when their address was uploaded, they were found to reside in a different ward than the one they were currently in, leading to the issuance of a single ballot paper.\n\nAnother issue raised by the Free State IEC involves changes in municipal demarcations that have left some voters unable to cast their votes on the first day of special voting. Freedom Front Plus Deputy Provincial leader Tammy Breedt reported that they had raised these concerns with the IEC after discovering that affected voters' addresses were no longer correctly reflected on the voters' roll. Breedt mentioned that two significant problems had been identified: first, some voters' voting districts (VDs) had been split due to newly created boundaries, causing their addresses to disappear from the voters' roll when they were located on one side of the road, while the voting station was on the other side. The IEC is investigating these discrepancies. The second issue involves voters who applied for special votes but were not found on the special voters register on the day of voting. Breedt stated that these two significant problems were currently being escalated by the IEC.",
  "summary": "Changes in municipal demarcations have also left some voters disappointed.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}