EC considers mock voting for fresh voters

The Electoral Commission is planning to roll out a mock voting exercise for first-time voters aimed at reducing the percentage of spoilt ballots in the upcoming elections.

Election watchers and stakeholders have in the past bemoaned the high number of spoilt ballots during any major election.

Some have called for intensive voter education to reduce the number drastically.

Speaking on the ‘Ask the EC’ program on GTV on Wednesday, the Chairperson of the Commission, Charlotte Osei revealed that this is just one of the moves they are making to curb the trend.

“The spoilt ballot is when you go and you collect a ballot paper and you change your mind and you go back, hand that back and get another one so it doesn’t go into the box and you are entitled to that. “The rejected ballot is when you take the ballot paper and you drop it into the box without marking any or you mark more than one”.

According to the EC chair, the problems with the rejected ballots are usually associated with indelible inks spreading from one column to another which makes it difficult for the polling agents to determine the intention of the voter.

“We have done a lot of work and if they keep watching us the EC, just before the elections they will see all the measures we are introducing to try and reduce rejected ballots,” she added.

“We are almost certain that this year we are going to see fewer spoilt ballots”.