Voter registration enters last phase
The Electoral Commission (EC)’s ongoing mass voter registration enters entered its final phase beginning Saturday, August 1, 2020.
Thursday, August 6, will be the last day of the registration process meant to enrol at least 15 million people ahead of the December 7 elections.
Per the EC’s data, more than 12 million Ghanaians have so far registered as of Sunday, July 26.
A statement issued by the EC expressed satisfaction with the high patronage of the exercise so far.
It, however, appealed to all prospective applicants to respond to the final call and register at registration centres near them.
“The Commission assures members of the public that it will enforce all the safety protocols at all Registration Centres throughout the country,” it said.
With allegations of parties busing eligible voters to registration centres, triggering violence at some centres, the commission cautioned members of “political parties to desist from bussing non-residents to specific registration centres.”
There are allegations that some persons have turned themselves into guarantor contractors taking money from applicants who do not have any of the EC certified documents –Ghana card and passport to register.
Per the country’s electoral law, persons who do not have the two documents are allowed to use two registered voters, known to them, to vouch for their citizenship. But it appears the process is being abused for monetary gains.
The EC, therefore reminded guarantors that “it is an offence to charge fees in exchange for vouching for applicants.”
Multiple registrations
Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission (EC) says it has detected some multiple registrations in the ongoing mass voter registration exercise.
The detection followed the commencement of a deduplication exercise by the commission, a process that involves using machines to match pictures and fingerprints of persons who have registered to detect duplication.
The Director of Electoral Services at the EC, Dr Serebour Quarcoo, said the names of such persons will be expunged from the register.