The Electoral Commission (EC) has announced the exhibition of the voters register at all 38,622 polling stations on Friday, November 3, as part of its preparation towards the conduct of the District Level Elections slated for December 19, 2023.
Deputy Chair at the EC in charge of Operations, Samuel Tettey, who made this known at a media briefing at its “Let the Citizens Know” series in Accra, said the exercise which will start from Friday, November 3 and end on Tuesday, November 7, 2023 is aimed at providing prospective voters opportunity to verify their information including names, age, sex as captured during the registration exercise and make requests for amendments or insertions where necessary.
According to the EC, “pursuant to Sub-Regulation (1) of regulation 22 and Regulation 23 of the Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulations, 2016 C.I. 91 as amended, the Commission is mandated to compile a provisional register of voters for each polling station and subsequently exhibit the voters register.”
The Commission added that the exhibition exercise, which will start at 7:00am and end at 6:00pm throughout the period of the registration exercise, will also exhibit the provisional voters register simultaneously at all polling stations serving as exhibition centres throughout the country.
“At the Exhibition Centre, the following requests could be made: Inclusion of omitted names, objection to names of unqualified voters on the register, removal of names of deceased voters from the register.
“Others include replacement of poor quality or damaged voter ID cards, correction to wrong spelling of names, correction to wrong registration centre codes, amendment to other registration details (e.g. age, sex etc.) as a result of clerical error.
“For the information of the general public, voters are advised to go to the exhibition centres with their voter identity cards to verify their details. This facilitates the process for verification of details. However, registered voters who fail to bring along their voter ID cards could also verify their details.
“It is also allowed for one to verify the voter details of a relation(s) or friend(s). However, it must be noted that one cannot request for corrections in the absence of the owner of the voter ID card,” it pointed out.
According to Mr. Tetteh, for eligible voters to effect major changes or corrections, complete change of the name of a voter or addition of new names, change of polling station code, change of photographs among others, the voter is required to go to the District Office of the Commission for a biometric authentication of the voter before the change is effected.
The EC further urged all registered voters to visit the exhibition centres to verify their data, make corrections and inclusions where necessary, and most importantly object to names of minors and foreigners who may have their names on the voters register through the guarantor system, to ensure a credible register.
As part of the Commission’s preparation towards the conduct of the District Level Elections, slated for Tuesday, 19th December, 2023, the Commission will display/exhibit the Provisional Voters Register at all the 38,622 polling stations across the country.
Pursuant to Sub-Regulation (1) of regulation 22 and Regulation 23 of the Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulations, 2016 C.I. 91 as Amended, the Commission is mandated to compile a provisional register of voters for each polling station and subsequently exhibit the Voters Register.The Commission will exhibit the Provisional Voters Register simultaneously at all polling stations which will serve as Exhibition Centres throughout the country from Friday, 3rd November, 2023 to Tuesday, 7th November, 2023.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah