09 Oct 2024

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) says it is inundated with enquiries regarding the purported soft copies of the voting rolls circulating in various media platforms.

A media release from the commission states that at the moment it is only able to provide stakeholders and any interested persons with hard copies of the rolls, either for formal inspection or personal use.

“This is mainly on account of issues of data protection and the need to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act, before such an eventuality,” says the media release.

The release says the commission has never shared, sold or published soft copies of any rolls, including election rolls.

“Therefore, the commission will not be accountable for any misinformation, disinformation, distortion of data or harm which may arise from the publication of voters’ personal details in the manner in which it has been done,” it says.

The release says hard copies of the commission’s official rolls for the purpose of the October 2024 General Elections have been placed at office of the Secretary of IEC in Gaborone, all IEC district offices, District Commissioner’s offices and Council Secretaries/Town Clerks’ offices for inspection by anybody with interest.

It says the commission has also provided hard copies of Polling District (Council Ward) election rolls at some dikgotla in each constituency for anybody resident there to access them.

“Those who are interested in inspecting the rolls and/or purchasing them are encouraged to do so as the commission approaches the conclusion of the inspection process,” says the release.

The process of inspecting the rolls concluded, October 9, where all rolls were scrutinised and the commission given appropriate feedback so that minor administrative errors may be corrected.

The commission also informs all voters that it is continuing to issue duplicate voters’ registration cards at all its offices, to any voter who may have lost their card.

The process of issuance of duplicate voters’ registration cards will continue until close of business on October 29. ENDS