A request for e‐voting system in South Africa: A case of 2019 national elections

Abstract

On the 8th of May 2019, South African citizens in all nine provinces were granted with the opportunity to elect their preferred political party into power. Over million people exercised their right through a ballot voting system for political parties of their choice. However, not every citizen was satisfied with how the election process was coordinated and facilitated particularly in certain areas. This is triggered by the fact that rumors were circulating in various social media platforms imparting that some of the eligible voters were accused of multiple voting while some of the ballot papers were found outside certain voting stations. The paper requests the South African government to introduce an e‐voting system as a means to prevent the above‐mentioned challenges that are associated with the manual voting system. Consequently, using the diffusion of innovation theory, this paper argues that e‐voting system has several pros that may strengthen the credibility of elections by reducing the risk of double voting and spoilt ballot papers and it also acknowledge the 4IR as an advanced system to complement and be integrated into the e‐voting system to be more effective. The aim of this paper was achieved through the use of desktop content analysis approach to reflect on the pros and cons with specific focus to both e‐voting and manual system. The paper examined the pitfalls associated with the ballot voting system. In conclusion, some of the challenges that emerged in the 2019 general elections could be resolved through the adoption of e‐voting system in the long‐run.