Vote Transfer Will Be Difficult This Year - Deputy EC Chair

A deputy chairman of the Electoral Commission, David Kanga has warned that transferring of voters from one polling station to another will be very difficult this year due to the introduction of the biometric register. Even though the Commission is working around the clock to find possible ways of dealing with the issue, Mr. Kanga cautioned voters to register at polling stations in their neighbourhood. He said this at a dialogue session with Prison officers at the Prisons headquarters in Accra. Head of the Public Relations Unit at the Electoral Commission, Christian Owusu Parry took officers through what is expected of them as voters during the elections. He explained that the EC has decided to go biometric due to several reasons one of which is that fewer errors are going to be recorded and impersonation would become a thing of the past. He said the registration is a very important part of the election process as it is a planning tool which gives an indication as to how many people are expected at a particular polling station. The process is also very important to political parties because no one can contest in an election without being a registered voter. Mr. Owusu Parry warned that only Ghanaians who are 18 years and above are eligible to register and advised the public to avoid double registration. He further explained that even though the registration process will last for 40 days starting March 24 to May 5, potential voters should not wait till the last days to register. The EC has acquired 7,000 registration kits which will be used for the registration process in the 23,000 registration centres in the country. The centres have been divided into clusters with each cluster made up of four centres. The registration teams are going to spend ten days at each centre. Potential voters are to go to the registration centres with their NHIS card, Passport, Driver�s license, National ID, or their existing voters ID card. In cases where a voter does not have any of these, two registered voters are expected to testify that the person is an eligible voter.