EC warns against taking photos of casted ballots

The Electoral Commission (EC) says it’s an offence for electorates to take photos of their ballots after voting.

The Commission warned that persons who are caught taking photos of their ballots will be arrested by security operatives.

 the EC’s Director of Electoral Services, Dr Serebour Quaicoe said this, during an interview on Citi FM's Eyewitness News.

“If you finish and you tell people who you voted for, that is fine but it is an offence for you to take photos of it and be showing it to people. That breaches the secrecy of the ballot. In the view of the law you can be arrested,” he said.

This comes after some videos circulating on social media showed some early voters displaying their ballots after voting.

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The special voting began on Tuesday, December 1, 2020, for security personnel, media practitioners and staff of the Electoral Commission.

Meanwhile, two persons have reportedly been arrested by security personnel at the Krowor constituency in the Greater Accra Region for allegedly taking photographs of their thumb-printed ballot papers during the Special voting exercise. 

Accra-based Starr FM reports that the two were considered to have spent over two minutes in the booth, which raised suspicions.

A search was conducted on their phones which revealed they had taken pictures of their ballot papers.

They have been detained at the police station for further interrogation.