Voting - in large numbers

THE Independent Electoral Commission pulled off a massive logistical feat in Wednesday's election.

THE Independent Electoral Commission pulled off a massive logistical feat in Wednesday's election.

With more than 23 million voters registered to cast their votes, the IEC printed 55 million ballot papers using about 450 tons of paper. More than 92000 voting compartments and 97000 ballot boxes were used in SA's fourth democratic election.

With about 18 million voters casting their ballots, the IEC used more than 4.5 million ballpoint pens and 39452 templates for Braille votes to enable visually impaired voters to make their mark.

Other election material used on Wednesday's election included:

2.25km of packaging tape;

45000 calculators;

90000 refuse bags;

1500 litres of ink; and

30000 zip-zip scanners

Wednesday's election was watched by 5000 domestic observers and 352 international observers. About 358 diplomats from 61 embassies visited polling stations. - Compiled by Wisani wa ka Ngobeni