EC explains why Naana Opoku Agyemang should not be worried over duplicated voter ID
Voters with duplicate ID numbers can still vote in the 2020 general elections, the Electoral Commission has explained.
According to the commission’s Director of Elections, Dr. Siriboe Quaicoe, a person’s voter ID number is not part of the things checked during voting day.
Photo: Dr. Siriboe Quaicoe
The explanation came in reaction to the 2020 NDC flagbearer, John Mahama, who has slammed the EC for producing an ‘error-ridden’ register.
John Mahama complained, his running mate Prof. Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang found out during the exhibition exercise that her number had been duplicated.
“They said she had to come herself because her number was duplicated, someone else also has the same number,” he said.
“She had to drive from Komenda to Elmina where the district office of the EC is located. At Elmina, they took the old card from her, destroyed it and replaced it with a new card.”
Mr Mahama expressed fears that other voters who have duplicated ID numbers may not be able to go through the process to rectify this error and might be disenfranchised on voting day.
But the EC Director, in an interview on Joy FM, monitored by theghanareport.com, explained John Mahama and the NDC should not be worried.
He said on voting day, the EC official only checks a voter’s name and fingerprints to confirm the voter is qualified to vote.
If the fingerprints fail in identifying a voter, the new facial recognition technology is at hand to confirm the eligibility of the person, he said.
“Voter ID number will not be used on the day of voting,” he stressed.
Dr Quaicoe said the ID numbers are merely system-generated numbers which could be changed without affecting the voter.
He said as far back as 2012, the EC has had duplicated numbers in the voters register without it affecting the voting process.
“It is not something new,” he said.
He explained that in a constituency in the Volta Region, the EC had to change all the ID numbers because several were duplicated.
The EC Director of Electoral Services put the number of duplicated numbers on the new voters’ register at 60,000.