e-Voting guidelines for the Unisa SRC Election 2023

SIMPLE STEPS AND GUIDELINES ABOUT ONLINE VOTING

1. The UNISA SRC election will be conducted on the EISA e-voting platform. The site will open for online voting at 09h00 on Monday, 14 August 2023 and close at 16h00 on Monday, 21 August 2023.
2. Kindly note that students cannot log onto the e-voting site before 09h00 on 14 August 2023.
3. The service provider appointed to conduct the e-voting is the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA).
4. To log onto the e-voting system, students will require their student number and identity, or passport number registered with the UNISA.
5. A One-Time-Password (OTP) will be generated by the e-voting system and sent to the student’s email address and/or cellphone number registered with the University.
6. PLEASE CHECK YOUR EMAIL SPAM/JUNK MAILBOX SHOULD YOU NOT HAVE RECEIVED THE OTP OR SELECT “RESEND OTP” ON THE SITE.
7. The e-voting site for the UNISA 2023 SRC election is: https://www.eisaict.org.za/UNISASRC
8. The support desk for online voting related queries and assistance only is: unisasrc2023@eisa.org
9. Queries relating to registration will be escalated to the UNISA IEC by EISA.

VOTING RULES AND PROCEDURES

EISA will display a copy of the rules and procedures on the online voting site as well as distribute it to students upon the site being opened for online voting. Before casting your vote, please read the rules and procedures which include the following carefully:

• Only UNISA students registered for 2023 can vote.
• There are two ballot papers per region, namely a regional ballot paper and national ballot paper.
• You may vote for a maximum of one (1) student structure of your choice per ballot paper.
• Vote by making a cross (X) in the box on the right-hand side of the student structure of your choice.
• Ballots must be successfully submitted on the online platform to EISA by the closing date and time of 16h00 on Monday, 21 August 2023 to be considered.

HOW TO VOTE USING THE EISA ONLINE VOTING PLATFORM

Step 1

Go to  https://www.eisaict.org.za/UNISASRC to cast your vote.

Step 2

Enter your student number and ID number or passport number for foreign nationals.

Step 3

On the national ballot screen, make your selection by clicking in the box of your choice. Please note that if you select more than one Student Structure and click “Confirm” the system will display an error message and will not allow you to proceed to the next step. You may abstain from this section of voting by not selecting any National Student Structure and simply clicking the “Confirm” button.

Step 4

On the local ballot screen, make your selection by clicking in the box of your choice (if you select more than one Student Structure and click “Confirm” the system will display an error message and will not allow you to proceed to the next step. After making your local ballot selection, click the “Confirm” button. You may abstain from this section of voting by not selecting any local Student Structure and simply clicking the “Confirm” button.

Step 5

Your selected Student Structure will be displayed.

Step 6

If you made a mistake while completing the online voting process, you can click “Change Selection” and restart the process from Step 5.

Step 7

Click “Confirm” to complete the voting process. Once you “Confirm” your final selection you cannot change your selection.
Please note that you can only vote once. The system will reject any subsequent attempts after you complete your first vote. No duplicate votes will be allowed. The system will display the following message in the event of duplicate votes: “You have already submitted a vote”.

HOW TO VOTE USING YOUR CELLPHONE

1. Between 14 and 21 August 2023 dial *134*1129# using your cell phone number registered on the UNISA system. This is free to eligible students, provided that there is a minimum balance of one cent on your cell phone to activate the system.
2. National Ballot – type the Student Structure number and “Send” or type 0 (zero) to abstain from voting in the National Ballot.
3. Local Ballot - type the Student Structure number and “Send” or type 0 (zero) to abstain from voting in the Local Ballot and “Send”.
4. Your selected Student Structure will be displayed - type 1 to “Submit” or 2 to “Cancel” and restart from the beginning of the process.
5. Final display - Voting process is completed.
6. Please note that you can cancel the process and restart voting at any time.
7. Once you “Send” your final selection you cannot make any changes to your selection.
8. Please note: No duplicate votes will be allowed. The system will display the following message in the event of duplicate votes: “You have already submitted a vote”.
   
   

VERY IMPORTANT

If you have not completed voting due to reasons such as system or internet failure, then you may try again until you succeed.

It is the responsibility of the student to ensure that he/she has updated his/her contact details to participate in the election by e-voting. Neither the University nor EISA will be held responsible for a student being unable to participate in the election through the e-voting site due to failure on the part of the student to update his/her details before 10 August 2023.

Thus, if your cell phone number is incorrect or has changed, the onus was on the student to inform the UNISA Student Administration accordingly. Those students will thus not be able to vote via their cell phone. However, you can still vote using another device.
Please consult the emails from UNISA 2023 SRC Election Communication regularly for updates on the SRC election.

Should you require any assistance regarding the e-voting process kindly contact the EISA Chief Electoral Officer, Ms Crystal Africa, during office hours 09h00 - 16h30, Monday to Friday.

Email: unisasrc2023@eisa.org        
Toll-free:  0800 11 43 73 from landline numbers only
WhatsApp: +27 62 929 6014