ANC Election Campaign Manual ANC no letters.jpg 2016 Chapter 7 Voter Registration Campaign Voters have to be registered in the voting district (VD) where they live. A VD is the area around one voting station and has between 400 and 4 000 voters. Every ward is broken into a number of VDs. All voters whose names appear on the voters roll for that VD are registered to vote at the voting station in that area. Most people are already registered, but many have moved since the last election and are not registered in the VD where they live. If a voter has a sticker in their ID book with a VD number from another area, they are registered to vote, but not in the right VD where they live. They either have to go and vote in the VD where they are registered, or change their registration to the right VD. Voters with smart cards who are registered get a separate receipt/sticker and must keep it somewhere safe. To change your registration you must go to the voting station on the public registration weekends, or visit the office of the MEO at the municipality. To register you fill in a form with your name and address, your ID is scanned by a zip-zip machine and your name is automatically entered onto the voters roll for the VD. (See Appendix A for more details about registration.) There will also be public registration weekends where all voting stations will be open for voter registration. The first one will probably be in November 2010. The ANC voter registration campaign forms part of the first phase of our election campaign. Our main focus should be on the public registration weekends since all voters would have easy access to registration on those days. Message The main message that all our volunteers have to understand and communicate to voters is the following: "We have now enjoyed 21 years of freedom in South Africa and have laid the foundation to deal with the poverty that we inherited from apartheid. The government has achieved many things and is still working hard to build a better life for all. We have already built over 3m houses, brought electricity and water to millions of households, and extended free health care and nutrition to millions of children. Our workers are protected by new laws and we all have equal rights. We have a democracy and a constitution that is an example to the whole world. Local government is responsible for services like rubbish removal, water, streets and facilities in our communities. Our councillors are meant to be your voice in local government. Register so that you can vote for a local government to address your needs." Key tasks Preparation . Get a copy of the 2014 voters roll and use it to check whether voters are registered. . Set up door-to-door registration teams in each voting district, train them and give them street sheets and a copy of the voters roll for that VD. . Give volunteers a map of the ward with all the VD numbers and borders and marked voting stations. Educate and organise voters to register: . Do voter outreach work to build enthusiasm for the elections. . Use volunteers to visit voters, mobilise people to get to registration stations on the weekends they are open for registration, deploy an ANC agent to each station to monitor progress and make complaints about irregularities. . Educate, inform and organise all our supporters to register through door-to-door visits. Monitor the work of the Electoral Agent and Registration staff . Check that ongoing voter registration is happening at the office of the MEO and in areas where voting district boundaries have changed - through our PLC representative. . Check that door-to-door registration work is planned and carried out by the MEO in voting districts where registration is low or boundaries have changed. . Ask the MEO staff for weekly reports on how many people have registered in each voting district so that you can intensify your work in areas where registration is low. . Check arrangements for the public registration weekend . Deploy members as agents to watch the registration at all voting stations. Through the PLC and our agents we should make sure the following arrangements are properly made: . Proper venues with electricity or generators, basic furniture and toilets and water. The same venue will be used for voting so this is the chance to sort out problems. . Make sure the venues are properly booked and that keys are available on the registration weekend - many stations open late because of simple problems. . Recruitment, training, deployment, catering and transport of registration staff. . Distribution of all equipment long before the station has to open. . Maps of voting districts and surrounding areas should be available at each voting station so people who come to the wrong station can be shown where to go. . Clear signs that show people where to register in each VD. . Forms and stationery for registration. . Zip-zip machines are loaded with the right voters roll and with properly charged batteries and enough stickers Campaign Work Door-to-door work and outreach to sectors are covered in Chapter 5. Make sure you use the correct voter record system for your area. When volunteers visit voters they should do the following: 1. Check whether the person has voted in that VD in 2009 or 2014 - if yes, they are registered. 2. If they voted somewhere else, check their ID and the VD number on the voter registration sticker or receipt - if it is still in the same ward, tell them where they will have to go and vote. 3. If the VD is not in the same ward, advise them to re-register on the registration weekend at the voting station in their VD. 4. If they are not sure whether they are registered and have no sticker in their ID, check the voters roll for their name. If it is not there, ask them to go and register on the registration weekend at the voting station in their VD. Voter registration campaigns should also be run by NGOs, churches, ward committees, councils, schools and organisations. Try to use the influence of the ANC and its members to motivate others to get involved. Inform moneylenders that it is illegal to confiscate people's IDs and ask them to return them to the voters who need their IDs. Local media Local media such as community radio stations and newspapers should be used to spread information about registration and to build enthusiasm among voters. Find out what exists in your area and meet with the journalists and editors to ask for their support and participation in the campaign. Here are some ideas: 1. Get presenters on radio to urge people to register and to publicise the dates and venues for registration. 2. Hold political debates and phone-ins with politicians on radio shows. 3. Target the youth with voter education and information programmes. 4. Ask local newspapers to publish maps of districts and dates of registration. 5. Publish a series of articles that discuss different political parties and their activities in the area. 6. Write letters to the newspaper. -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
