The forms prepared by the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) for proxy voting in the December 7 presidential and parliamentary elections have no security features, the Chairman of the Subsidiary Legislation Committee in parliament, Osei Bonsu Amoah, has said.
According to the Member of Parliament for Akuapem South, the situation could create an avenue for unscrupulous persons to make several photocopies of the proxy application forms and illegally use them to vote on behalf of other people who are either sick or out of town.
Ahead of this year’s elections, the Electoral Commission (EC) announced that eligible voters, who for some reasons cannot cast their ballot in the December polls, would get the opportunity to transfer their franchise in a 40-day exercise.
Through the vote transfer exercise, which is backed by C.I.75, voters who cannot personally cast their ballot will invest their franchise in proxies.
According to the EC, only eligible voters can act as proxies for others. The EC said forms for transferring votes are available at its headquarters in Accra and also at the various district offices across the country.
But speaking on the matter in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom on Friday September 9, Mr Amoah said: “There are no security features on the proxy forms, so somebody can access just one and photocopy about fifty or hundreds of them and fill all in the name of proxy voting.”
"Even in 2012, proxy votes were not up to 1,000. If it is done this way, the numbers can increase. We have told them (the EC) that this is not the best, therefore, they should correct it and also let us know the number of those who apply to vote by proxy. The proxy voting should be done according to law because the law stipulates clearly how it should be done. The EC has made a mistake so they should correct it, other than that we will resist anybody who attempts to vote by proxy.”
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