Born-frees bored stiff by voting

The Independent Electoral Commission is worried that more than a million people aged between 18 and 19 are not registered to vote in next year's general elections.

The commission told parliament yesterday that only 185 000 of a total of 1.5 million people in the age group eligible to vote had so far registered.

Its chairman, Advocate Pansy Tlakula, and chief electoral officer, Mosotho Moepya, told MPs that convincing the "born-free kids", born in 1994 or later, to register was one of the biggest headaches they faced ahead of next year's elections.

They were briefing the Home Affairs portfolio committee about the IEC's preparations for the upcoming election. The electionwill mark South Africa's 20th anniversary of democracy.

It will also see the "born-frees" voting for the first time.

Commenting on the low-voter registration, Moepya said: "That represents a 12% registration. It is a big gap in this age group that we need to deal with . there's quite a large chunk of youth that we need to deal with," said Moepya.

Moepya told MPs that 2.6million young people in the 20 to 29 age group had not registered to vote.

He said the commission would embark on public awareness campaigns to encourage young people to register to vote next year.

The campaign, he said, would include visits by the commission's officials to tertiary institutions and targeted voter registration weekends later this year and early next.

"The gap in registrations is one of the big challenges . it's not as easy as saying that 'if you come to register we'll give you a burger'.

"We have to find interesting ways of getting them to come and register. Registration remains a thing that you do in person and people have a perception, particularly the young, that it's going to be a long queue. In fact, we have to drum the message that its not.

''It's [registration] very easy - you are in and out in less than five minutes."

Tlakula said online voter registration, which she said had been debated intensely within the IEC, was still outlawed in terms of electoral legislation.

"The law still says that people have to register in person. We don't even allow postal registration.

''We have looked at all issues of credibility and trust . whether our democracy is mature enough to go [that route]. We feel that maybe the time has not come yet. We have to give a few more years," she said.