'The three Days addon by the Electoral Commission was needful' - Electoral Officer

The additional three days to fulfill attendance in the Voters’ Exhibition Exercise ended yesterday, September 20 2019 at the various registration centers in Ghana.

The exercise started on September 10, 2019, and was expected to end on Tuesday, September 17, 2019 yet the low turnout rate at the various electoral centers of the registration was a factor for the expansion of days by the Commission.

The practice was planned to allow prospective voters to verify if their details, such as names, sex and age are captured during the registration exercise and also make requests for amendments or insertions when necessary has recorded a lower participation.

The former president and flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress revealed on Tuesday that there are challenges that the EC need to address for the benefit of the electorate during the three-day addon.

“In some places there are complaints that for the new people who registered they are identified only by their new features, and I think that their other biometric features have not been captured yet and so the fear is that in future if we are holding an election that’s using the biometric registration devices they might not be able to vote because their biometric features will not be in the BVBs."

He advised the Commission to sit up in the exhibition exercise to further the process ahead of the extra days.

"They have parts of it, so it makes it difficult for them to monitor and follow the exhibition exercise. These are things that the electoral commission is enjoined to do and so they [EC) need to sit up,” he said.

The Electoral officers at the Kenyasi Abirem Roman Catholic Primary as at the 17 September had recorded 12 percent out of over 1,300 names in their register. They were expecting an improved turnout during the weekend, September 14 and 15 but were disappointed at the declining number. Officers after the exercise on September 20 disclosed that the additional days by the Electoral Comission was for the betterment of the workout due to the ineffectiveness of publicity.

“The three days addon helped resolve the pressures as a result of the low publicity. It was a reminder for the people to report and cross check their names and verify that their details were intact,” the electoral officer said.

According to him, District Supervisors failure to separate the provisional register from the final voters’ register contributed to delay and effected heaviness on them therefore the extra days lightened their load to be able to wrap up the activities at the center.

“The provisional register was not separated from the final Voters’ Register. In the normal way, both should be separated but here in the case, the 2016 list was mixed up with the 2019 register.”

“We needed time to separate the two and at the same time, verify electorates. It was good that the electoral commission expanded the day” he ended.