New ballot boxes to be provided for Sunday’s exercise - EC

The Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana says it will provide new ballot boxes for the Special Voting exercise that has been extended to Sunday, December 4, 2016.

Just like in any general elections, the political parties will provide their seals for these new ballot boxes.

Security personnel as well as some other civilians who registered to take part in the Special Voting exercise held on Thursday, December 1, 2016 were disenfranchised because their names were missing from the Voters Register used for the conduct of the poll.

The prospective early voters went to their respective polling stations with the hope of casting their ballot only to be told by the Presiding officers of the Electoral Commission that their names were not in the voters roll.

Kasapa 102.5 FM reporters who monitored the exercise across the country reported that the affected are mostly, security personnel who will be policing the December 7 polls.

The affected, our reporters added, looked dejected upon finding their names missing in the register and have threatened to abandon their posts on December 7 to also go and cast their votes at polling stations they registered their names.

But the affected were given a lifeline following the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana’s engagement with the top hierarchy of the Ghana Police Service and an emergency meeting of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC).

Following reports of the challenges encountered during the exercise, the EC agreed to extend the Special Voting to Sunday, December 4, 2016 to enable the affected security personnel to cast their vote.

The ballot cast will be added onto Thursday’s ballot and countered on December 7 in addition to the main polls.