Local Government Elections – 4 November 2026
They can come to your home for your vote
If you are blind or partially sighted, you already know what election day can ask of a person. A voting station is often a school hall you have never walked through. There is a queue you cannot see the start of. There is a building a white cane will not invent for you, and a journey many of us cannot make on our own because we do not drive and we cannot safely find our way there.
You do not have to lose your vote because of that.
The Electoral Commission has something called a special vote. In plain language, it means this: if you cannot get to the voting station, you can ask the IEC to come to you. Officials bring the ballot to the place where you live. You vote at home, or in the care home where you stay. That is the whole idea.
This article is only about that home visit. Nothing else.
Why you qualify
You qualify if you are already registered to vote, and if you cannot physically get to your voting station because of your sight. The law talks about people who cannot present themselves at a station because of their physical condition. Blindness and partial sight sit inside that. If you cannot drive, and you cannot reach the station safely on your own, that is enough reason to ask them to come to you.
You will need a green barcoded ID book, a smart ID card, or a valid Temporary Identity Certificate from Home Affairs. If you are not sure you are still on the voters’ roll, phone the IEC on 0800 11 8000 and ask them to check. You can also WhatsApp them on 060 088 0000.
What you have to do, and by when
Applications are open now. They close at five o’clock on Monday, 12 October 2026. After that, the door shuts. There is no late list.
The most straightforward ways to apply for a home visit are the IEC website and the telephone. The website is elections.org.za, and the special-vote application sits on the voter portal at registertovote.elections.org.za. Choose a home visit for the 2026 local government elections. Give the address where they will actually find you. If you live in a flat, give the flat number. If you live in a frail-care home or a residence, give the name of the place and the room if you have one. The address must be in the same voting district where you are registered.
If the website is awkward with a screen reader, phone 0800 11 8000 and ask them to take a home-visit application with you. Tell them you cannot get to the station because of your sight. The application is yours. Somebody you trust may sit with you while you do it. Nobody may apply in your name without your consent.
You should receive an SMS once the application has been processed. If the phone stays quiet, call that same number before 12 October and ask them to look it up. Keep the confirmation. That message is how you know a team is meant to come.
When to expect them
If your home visit is approved, officials will come on Monday 2 November or Tuesday 3 November. They work from eight in the morning until five in the afternoon. They do not give you a time of day. That is the part that catches people out. You have to be at that address on both days, because you will not know which morning or afternoon they will knock.
Have your original ID where your hand can find it. Tell the people at the gate, or at reception, that IEC officials may arrive. Stay home. If you are out when they come, they may not come back.
Who may sit with you
You may have a trusted companion with you. A sister, a spouse, a neighbour, a friend. Someone you chose. They must be eighteen or older, and they must not be a party agent, a candidate or an election observer. That person may mark the ballot the way you tell them. This is your right. You do not have to let a stranger make the cross if you have someone of your own in the room.
Ask for the Universal Ballot Template as well. It is a hard plastic sleeve. The ballot slides inside. The windows are numbered in Braille and in raised print. Someone reads the list. You find your number and mark it yourself if that works for you. Home-visit teams are supposed to bring it. They do not always. If it is not there, your companion can still mark the paper for you. If you are alone, an official can mark it on your instruction.
That is the opportunity
Apply this week. Ask for a home visit. Give the address they will find. Keep the approval message. Be at home on the 2nd and the 3rd of November, ID in hand, and if you can, with someone you trust beside you.
The vote is still yours. They can come and take it from the chair you already sit in.
IEC: 0800 11 8000 ·
WhatsApp: 060 088 0000 ·
registertovote.elections.org.za
