Electoral Bill [B69-98]: discussion

Meeting report

SOCIAL SERVICE SELECT COMMITTEE
8 September 1998
DISCUSSION ON THE ELECTORAL BILL

Documents handed out
Electoral Bill [B 69-98]
Proposed Amendments to the Electoral Bill – doc.1, 2a, 2b i.e. New Schedule, and 3b

This was a follow-on meeting from that of the 7/9/98. The committee was only able to meet for one hour and adjourned until 9/9/98.

This meeting was taken up with discussion on the registration of voters and ID documents.

It was agreed that the form as specified in a new Schedule would be given when the bar-coded ID is applied for and can be used when registering as a voter.

Voting material remains the property of the IEC – voting material can only be disposed of after criminal court procedures have been disposed of. [Department will propose an amendment to this effect]

With regard to Clause 1 of the proposed amendments, the IEC wants 1 (a) (iii) included as an acceptable identity document – the Department of Home Affairs does not. The proposed amendment reads as follows:
1 (a) (iii) an identity document recognised as valid by section 25 of that Act. [Act 68 of 1997]

A committee member stated that the exclusion of (iii) depends on the capacity of the department to deal with the large numbers of people involved.

The meeting had to adjourn at this point.