KAROO NEWS - A by-election will be held for a councillor to represent Ward 2 in the Dr. Beyers Naude Local Municipality Council on Wednesday, 10 April.
This vacancy was created by the resignation of DA councillor Linda Botha on 31 January for personal reasons.
Leader of the DA caucus, Cllr Samantha Graham, has been looking after ward 2 affairs in the interim.
Ward 2 comprises the Horseshoe area of Graaff-Reinet, as well as the village of Nieu Bethesda and the farms in that area.
Two candidates are contesting the ward: Petronella April for the African National Congress, and Ricardo Smith for the Democratic Alliance. Polling stations will be open from 07:00 until 21:00, giving plenty of chance for residents to cast their votes.
In town, the polling station is the Te Water Hall, in Bourke Street. Nieu Bethesda residents will record their votes in the Community Hall in the village.
After the last registration weekend, there were 3166 registered voters in Ward 2, of which approximately two-thirds are registered to vote in Graaff-Reinet town.
All those eligible to vote should already be on the voters' roll for their relevant polling station, and will only need to produce their green identity book or new identity card.
Those with the books should have proof of registration in the book, and cardholders should take along their receipt if they have not already checked that they are on the voters' roll personally.
On election day, when polling closes at 21:00, the voting station gets locked. Nobody may enter or leave until the counting is finished.
Then the boxes and ballot papers are sent to the IEC offices in Graaff-Reinet, where everything is verified and finalised.
The counting results must be signed off by the party agents of each party present at counting. If all goes smoothly, the results should be announced during that same night.
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