A special vote application for the 4 November 2026 local government elections can be lodged from Monday 21 September, and the window shuts at 17h00 on Monday 12 October 2026. Those dates come from the election timetable the Electoral Commission published in the Government Gazette on 7 August 2026, the day Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa proclaimed the election date.
A special vote lets a registered voter cast a ballot before election day, either at home or at the voting station where they are registered. It does not let you vote anywhere else. In local government elections there is no provision to vote outside the voting station of registration.
The dates that matter
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| 16 September 2026 | Electoral Commission publishes the final list of candidates |
| 21 September 2026 | Special vote applications open |
| 25 September 2026 | Certificates of candidacy issued to successful candidates |
| 12 October 2026 | Special vote applications close at 17h00 |
| 2 and 3 November 2026 | Special votes are cast at homes, places of care and voting stations |
| 4 November 2026 | Election day |
Every activity on the timetable must be completed by 17h00 on its cut-off date. An application sent at 17h05 on 12 October is late.
One caution on the closing date. The Electoral Commission’s own statement gives 12 October 2026, and that is the date used here. At least one syndicated report published in August gave 15 October. Where the two differ, the Commission’s published timetable is the one that counts.
Who can apply
You must already be on the voters’ roll. The roll closed at midnight on 7 August 2026 when the election was proclaimed, and no new registrations or address changes have been accepted since. If you did not register by then, a special vote will not help you, because there is nothing to apply against.
You also need a valid identity document: a green barcoded ID book, a smart ID card, or a valid temporary identity certificate. Home Affairs is still phasing the green book out, and the green ID book phase-out does not affect books already in circulation for this election.
The Commission describes two categories of special vote:
- A home visit, for voters who cannot travel to the voting station because they are physically infirm, disabled or pregnant, or who are in a place of care.
- A voting station visit, for registered voters who cannot cast a ballot on 4 November itself and instead vote at their own station on 2 or 3 November.
The Commission’s wording covers physical limitations, illness, disability or other circumstances. You are asked to state which of the two you need when you apply.
How to apply
There are three channels, and they are not interchangeable.
Online. Complete the application form on the Electoral Commission website. This channel handles both the voting station visit and the home visit.
On paper. Download the special vote application form from the Commission’s website, or collect one from your local IEC office during office hours. The form used for municipal elections is the MEC 35. Completed forms must be hand delivered to the relevant local office, not the national or provincial office, and not by email or fax. Someone else may deliver the form for you.
By SMS. Send your identity number to 32249. This channel is for a voting station special vote only, not a home visit. The Commission’s timetable statement puts the cost at R1.50 per SMS, while a guide published by the government newspaper Vuk’uzenzele, supplied by the Commission, gives R1.00. Budget for the higher figure.
You will get an SMS telling you whether the application was approved. Application status can also be checked on the Commission’s website.
What happens on the day
Approved voters at a voting station vote on 2 or 3 November at the station where they are registered. Approved home visits are conducted at the address given in the application, within the voting district where the voter is registered. Voting officials bring the ballots.
To confirm your voting station or registration status before applying, SMS your identity number to 32810, use the Commission’s WhatsApp line on 0600 88 0000, or call the contact centre on 0800 11 8000.
The ballot is not fully settled yet
The final candidate list is published on 16 September 2026, but in six municipalities the content of the ballot is still before the Electoral Court.
What is established: the Commission closed candidate nominations at 17h00 on 28 August 2026, and 142 072 nominations were received nationally. What is claimed: the ANC says technical problems with the Commission’s Online Candidate Nomination System stopped its administrators from completing the final submission step for 181 candidates across six municipalities in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Mangaung metro, and it asked the Electoral Court on 4 September to declare those nominations validly submitted. The Commission denies that it took any decision to reject the lists, arguing the party simply did not submit them in time, and has asked the court to dismiss the appeal. The matter had not been decided by 14 September 2026.
That dispute does not change any special vote date. It affects which names appear on the ballot in those municipalities.
Where to check
The Electoral Commission publishes the election timetable, the special vote application form and the online application at www.elections.org.za. Its contact centre is 0800 11 8000. The proclamation of the 4 November date sits with the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs at www.cogta.gov.za.
If the outcome of the election matters to you for practical reasons, the councils elected on 4 November set your rates and service charges. See what the metros approved this year in municipal tariff increases 2026, and what happened when Treasury withheld funds from 69 municipalities.
