South Africans vote in local government elections today, 4 November, and running them is one of the Electoral Commission's most expensive tasks. The IEC told Parliament in May that it had been allocated R3.2 billion for the current financial year to deliver the elections across all 240 municipalities and their wards.

Earlier in the year, it told Parliament it expected to spend about R4.75 billion in 2026/27, leaving a shortfall of about R1.6 billion that it planned to cover from savings built up in previous years.

Local elections are the most complicated vote the IEC runs. Instead of one national and nine provincial ballots, it has to organise contests in every municipality and ward in the country. More than 140,000 candidates submitted nominations, and the IEC approved 2.65 million applications for special votes for people who cannot get to a voting station on the day. Some of the money came as a special top-up.

In its February budget, the government set aside R1.116 billion for the elections through a special appropriation, ring-fenced so it could only be used for election work. That covers voter registration, staff at voting stations, ballot papers and other materials, logistics, and the systems used to capture and announce results. Members of Parliament raised other concerns when they checked the IEC's readiness, including the timing of the vote during matric exams, since schools are often used as voting stations, and the need to protect the election from cyber attacks and disinformation online.

The cost is not only the IEC's. Political parties and independent candidates also pay deposits to contest, from R1,800 to R4,700 depending on the type of municipality and candidate.

Moneyweb's Ray Mahlaka looked at the rising price of running the country's elections. SAnews reported Parliament's appropriations committee saying it was satisfied the IEC was financially and operationally ready. The Citizen reported chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo's figures on the budget, expected spending and shortfall.

R3.2 billion is a lot of money, but most of it pays for people and paper: thousands of voting stations, staff, ballots and the transport to move them around the country. That is the price of a vote people can trust, and South Africa's elections are widely seen as credible, which is worth a great deal.

The question for the future is whether technology can bring the cost down without weakening that trust. The IEC already uses digital tools to check voters against the roll and to capture results, and it now works with platforms to fight false information, as we covered in our piece on TikTok's election centre.

Any move towards more digital voting would have to pass a very high bar on security and public confidence, as Parliament's cyber concerns show. Whatever the cost, the best return on it is simple: always go and vote.

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