#ElectionsZW: ZEC admits there are people with no addresses on the voters roll
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has admitted that there are some people who are on the voters roll with no addresses enlisted.
The issues were raised by an online-based organisation Team Pachedu a few weeks ago in their alleged analysis of the voters roll.
An address is one of the key requirements for voter registration in Zimbabwe since the country adopted polling station-based voting.
Speaking during a meeting with the Portfolio on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs that was organised by SAPST, ZEC chief elections officer Utoile Silaigwana attributed the issue to the way officers are entering data.
He said the anomaly arose due to the issue of citizens who reside in institutional accommodation.
‘’The Commission accedes to the fact that there are voters in the voters roll whose addresses are indicated as unknown. The Commission also takes note of the point raised that if the information is to be retained as is in the voters roll it would appear as if the Commission has contravened the provisions of the Electoral Act on residential requirements
‘’To allay any fears, it is the manner of the data entry that some of our officers were using that resulted in this happening. The point has been taken.
‘’Our own assessment has indicated that this anomaly arose mostly on voters who reside in institutional accommodation such as old peoples’ homes, schools, orphanages, police camps etc where it is not possible to allot a house number or stand number,’’ he said.
ZEC has found a solution to the anomaly
Silaigwana added that ZEC has since found a solution to address the issue and prevent it from happening.
‘’It has since been resolved that this could be circumvented by stating the institution as the address. ‘’The information is already there on the voter registration form (VR1) filled in by the voter. However, because of the absence of the house number or stand number, some officers entered ‘unknown’ on the address for the voter. As already stated, corrective action has been taken in that regard,’’ he said.
#ElectionsZW: ZEC admits there are people with no addresses on the voters roll
