Jean Mensa
The exhibition of the 2020 provisional voters’ register will start today with a strong indication from the Electoral Commission (EC) that those who did double registration and those who have also been disqualified outright after the registration will not be allowed to vote in the December elections.
The seven-day exhibition exercise will end on Friday, September 25, with the EC calling on all prospective voters to check their voter ID card details during the period to ensure that every detail has been correctly captured in the provisional voter register before the final authentication.
The Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa, addressing the press yesterday ahead of commencement of the exhibition exercise today, said the list of those who did double registration and those who have been disqualified for one reason or the other after registering would be pasted at each of the 33,367 exhibition centres that the exercise would take place.
“It is very important for every prospective voter to go and check his or her details during this exhibition exercise for correction of wrongly captured details before the final register is authenticated for the elections,” she said, stressing that it is also important for every voter to check his or her name to be sure that he or she is not captured on the ‘multiple registration list’ for double registrants and ‘exception list’ for disqualified voters.
According to the EC boss, those who are captured on the ‘multiple registration list’ may have a window of opportunity to appeal against their disqualification by petitioning the District Registration Review Committee if they have any reasons to believe that they do not have to be ‘disqualified’ from voting.
She said exhibition would start at 7a.m. and close at 6 p.m. every day till the whole exercise ends on Friday, September 25.
She said during the exhibition exercise, the EC would deploy a Covid-19 ambassador to each of the 33,367 exhibition centres to ensure that all the Covid-19 protocols are strictly adhered to by the EC officials, as well as prospective voters as observed during the registration exercise.
She said “the exercise will also allow for further disqualification of prospective voters if anyone thinks a voter is not qualified and comes to challenge or object to the inclusion of the name of that ‘suspicious’ voter.”
The EC boss further explained those who would be challenged during the exercise would be sent to the District Registration Review Committee to determine if indeed they do not qualify to be on the register.
She said the EC, in collaboration with the Supreme Court, had appointed district magistrates as district registration review officers who would sit on all ‘challenge cases’ during the exhibition exercise.
He said after the exhibition exercise and the determination of all challenge cases, the district registration review officers would authenticate the final register before the EC would endorse it as the final product or foundation document to be used for the December elections.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr