David Asante, Convener of Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA)
The Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA) says it is optimistic that the Electoral Commission (EC) has the capacity to deliver a credible voters’ register with advanced features and an improved process.
According to LMVCA, the improved process includes the downloading of application forms (Form A) online to be submitted along with a Ghana card or passport at the registration centre.
The group, in a statement, said, “In the absence of these two forms of identification, two registered voters may guarantee for the applicant as provided by C.I. 126.”
According to LMVCA, the new ID card also has sophisticated features, such as the QR code which is more advanced form of the bar code in line with high standards of voting and global best practices.
“It is instructive to note that the EC, having successfully gazetted all 33,350 registration centres, has also procured all necessary materials and equipment, and trained its staff, besides laying in Parliament the C.I. 126 to give legal force to the registration process,” the group said.
“Last week, the EC successfully undertook a two-day pilot registration exercise,” the group stated and commended the commission “for the fortitude displayed and the preparedness exhibited to give Ghanaians a new register.”
The statement disclosed that the research department of LMVCA, in March 2020, uncovered a damning revelation of over 500,000 fake voters’ ID cards in in the system, saying “these were confirmed when financial institutions ran checks on the authenticity of ID cards that had been presented for bank transactions.”
“Furthermore, security services all over the country have had cause to complain about fake voter ID cards used to transact regular business,” querying, “Do we wish for these same voter ID cards to be used for the 2020 elections?”
It said the EC, on December, 28, 2018, held a referendum in 3,040 polling stations in selected parts of the country for the creation of six new regions and, as a result, 81 new districts were created and by extension new electoral areas and polling stations.
“In view of the fact that the EC operates a system with codes for every district and polling station, it is imperative that the EC revises its system to reflect these new developments,” the LMVCA argued.
They said the first alphabet of the seven-digit alpha numeric code of the voters’ ID cards represents the region in which the voter registered, and the first and second numbers represented the district with the third and fourth numbers representing electoral area and the last two numbers for the polling station.”
“Thus, the existing coding arrangements will be altered for bearers of voters’ ID cards in the newly created regions, districts, electoral areas and polling stations,” it noted.
The statement added that about 7 million existing voters’ ID cards would have to be recalled by the EC for the holders of these cards to be re-registered whether a new voters’ registration is done or not.
By Ernest Kofi Adu