678,525 home-bound voters told: stay put, the IEC will not come back twice

The Electoral Commission of South Africa has told the 678,525 voters approved for home-visit special voting to stay at their registered addresses on Monday and Tuesday until officials arrive to help them cast their ballots.

The appeal covers voters approved to vote at their places of residence because of physical infirmity or disability. Special voting runs on 2 and 3 November, ahead of Election Day on Wednesday, 4 November 2026.

At a media briefing on Sunday, Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo warned that the officials will not come back. “Given a sheer high number of home visitations to be made within the two days, often covering vast areas, the officials will not return to the same address if they do not find the voters when they arrive at the property for the first time,” he said.

KwaZulu-Natal carries the heaviest home-visit load, with 143,714 approved voters, the highest of the provinces. The Commission has deployed 127,000 electoral officials to handle home visits and voting-station special voting over the two days.

Missing the visit does not cost a voter the ballot. “However, voters who miss the home visit by the election officials on 2 and 3 November are not disenfranchised. Such voters can still visit their voting station on 4 November 2026 to exercise their right to vote,” Mamabolo said.

Home-visit officials work in teams and may be accompanied by political party agents and observers. The Commission reminded stakeholders that access to homes and places of confinement by anyone other than electoral officials is at the discretion of the approved voters themselves and of the institutions hosting them.

It also called on all stakeholders to respect the process and to refrain from conduct that could intimidate voters or electoral officials, obstruct voting, or interfere with approved home-visit routes and election materials.

Special votes will be stored securely and reconciled with the special vote records before being counted alongside ballots cast on 4 November.

The account above is drawn from SAnews (South African Government News Agency), the government’s own news service, which reported the Commission’s Sunday briefing rather than publishing the briefing record itself. The original report is at https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/special-voters-urged-remain-home-until-iec-officials-arrive.