For some time now, all polling stations with more than 700 names on their voters register have been split into two — A and B — for the December 7 general elections.
In the 2020 elections, a similar thing was done by the Electoral Commission (EC) and it was explained that the move was to ensure that long queues were reduced at those polling stations during voting.
After this year’s [2024] new voter registration exercise and addition to the old register, a similar thing has been done and when the register went for public exhibition last week, some voters who went out to check their names had to be moving from one polling station to the other to find their names.
This has raised some concerns with the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) raising issues with it after studying the Provisional Voters Register (PVR) given to the NDC by the EC.
On Monday, the NDC demanded a meeting with the EC for the issue to be resolved.
Mahama’s concerns
On his campaign tour on Wednesday, the flag bearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama spoke about the issue and admonished the Electoral Commission to fulfill its duties properly to ensure that the December 2024 elections is free from confusion.
He pointed out that the recent voter exhibition exercise conducted by the EC was riddled with numerous anomalies, which, if not addressed, could lead to chaos on election day.
Mahama expressed concern over the fact that many voters had their names transferred without their knowledge, a situation that he emphasised must be rectified immediately.
“The EC has to sit up so that we don’t have any confusion on the election day,” Mr Mahama stated while addressing party supporters at Nsakina in the Greater Accra Region during his campaign tour on Wednesday, August 28, 2024.
He underscored the EC’s critical role in ensuring peaceful elections in the country, warning that any failure to meet expectations could undermine the country’s electoral process.
“The EC is an important institution in us having peaceful elections in this country; so, if the EC commissioners are listening, you better wake up; you are not doing your job properly,” he added.
Mahama further noted that many people were unable to find their names in the voter register, while others had their names transferred without their consent.
He also alleged that some individuals had registered proxies without using biometric cards and that there had been multiple registrations.
Source: Graphic
