The New Patriotic Party (NPP) is to carry out an audit of the 1,277 rejected ballot papers recorded in the party�s presidential primary, which took place last Saturday.
This is to enable the party to know what really happened and the kind of training to offer party members and executives, particularly polling station executives.
This is to ensure that the incidence of high numbers of rejected ballot papers did not recur in future elections of the party.
Mr John Boadu, National Organiser of the party, disclosed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic.
He said the spoilt ballot papers were a wake-up call for the party to find out whether the mistakes were committed by the party executive or from election officials while in the process of issuing the ballot papers to the delegates.
He said the considerable number of spoilt ballot papers during elections in the country was a big drain on the resources of the country, since some of the run-offs, which entails massive use of resources, could have been avoided if voters had had it right.
The national organiser said, for example, that in the 2008 elections, a candidate needed 40,000 votes to cross the 50 per cent mark to win the election �one touch�. However, he said, the number of rejected ballot papers was a whopping 250,000, causing the nation to go for a run-off which involved the utilisation of another set of resources by candidates and political parties in the second round.
He said the nation could have been saved the run-offs and required resources if voters knew exactly what was expected of them when casting their votes.
Mr Boadu, therefore, called on all stakeholders, including the EC and political parties, to take interest in the issue of rejected ballots .
In the recent presidential primary of the NPP, the valid votes were 124,449 as against 1,277 rejected ballots in an election which saw 125,726 delegates voting to elect Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as the flag bearer of the party. He polled 117,413 votes representing 94.35 per cent of total votes cast. His other contestants, Mr Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen and Mr Francis Addai-Nimoh, polled 5,908, representing 4.75 per cent, and 1,128, representing 0.91 per cent respectively.
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