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Voting by post
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
June 05, 2008

It is hereby notified for general information that the following persons are the only persons eligible to vote using the postal ballot method:

A voter who has a good reason to believe he or she will be absent from his or her constituency/ward by reason of being:

1. On duty as a member of a disciplined force or as an electoral officer; or
2. Absent from Zimbabwe in the service of the Government of Zimbabwe or
3. A spouse of a person referred to in paragraph (1) or (2)

Applications for postal ballots are made to the Chief Elections Officer in the prescribed form and must be signed by the applicant in the presence of a competent witness and should be accompanied by the voter's proof of identity and /or voter registration certificate.

All applications should reach the Chief Elections Officer on or before noon of the tenth day before polling day.

Voting Procedure
The following directions for voting by post shall be substantially observed by every person to whom a postal ballot paper has been issued.

1. Before marking the ballot paper the voter shall produce before a competent witness
   i) The ballot paper issued to him/her showing the number thereon and
   ii) The declaration of identity and
   iii) The envelope in which he/she has received the ballot paper.
2. The voter shall sign the declaration of identity in the presence of the competent witness who shall, if satisfied as to the identity of the voter, sign the declaration of identity in his or her own handwriting and the title under which he or she acts as a competent witness.
3. The voter shall signify the candidate for whom he or she wishes to vote by secretly placing on the ballot paper a cross in accordance with subparagraph (ii) of paragraph ( c) of section fifty-seven, and no other person except the competent witnesses shall be present and the voter shall not allow the competent witness to see how he or she has voted.
4. Immediately after voting the voter shall, in the presence of the competent witness but without disclosing how he or she has voted, place the marked ballot paper in the ballot paper envelope, effectively close that envelope and effectively close the covering envelope.
5. The voter shall then dispatch the covering envelope by registered post without delay, or hand it to the constituency elections officer who, when it is so handed to him or her, shall issue a receipt for it.
6. Where the voter is a member of the disciplined force and has received his or her ballot paper through his or her commanding officer, he or she may transmit the envelope to the constituency elections officer through his or her commanding officer and such commanding officer shall convey or cause to be conveyed the covering envelope to returning officer by the most expeditious means consistent with safety.
7. At the request in person of a voter who cannot read or write or who is incapacitated by blindness or other physical cause from voting in the manner provided for above, the competent witness may mark the vote of the voter on the ballot paper in the manner directed by the voter.
8. Where a competent witness has been requested to mark a vote on a ballot paper, he or she may put to the voter such questions as, in his or her opinion, are necessary to elicit sufficient directions to enable him or her to make the vote in the manner desired by the voter.
9. A competent witness who has marked a vote on a ballot paper at the request of a voter who cannot read or write or is incapacitated by blindness or other physical cause shall ensure that a written statement of what he or she has done and the reasons for his or her doing so, specifying the nature of the inability or incapacity suffered by the voter, is enclosed in the covering envelope together with the ballot paper envelope and the declaration of identity.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission also wishes to inform the electorate and the public that sealing of postal boxes will take place on 20th June, 2008 at wards collation centres and the contesting candidates or their election agents and all accredited observers are invited to witness this process.

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