The Electoral Commission has announced that there will be no special voting during the upcoming District Level Election.
This is due to the large number of the electorate involved which makes that exercise unfeasible to do so.
The Electoral Commission (EC) is challenged with logistics limitation, which includes the conveying of more than 12,300 ballot boxes out of the stock for the special voting.
Addressing media Practitioners and other stakeholders in Wa, the Upper West Regional Director of the EC, Mr Serebour Quaicoe, noted that the cost benefit analysis is clear that there would be no value for money regarding special voting, and that, allowances for election officials, who would be deployed at the special voting centres could be as high as 50 per cent of the total allowances payable for the main elections.
He noted that the expression “special” occasionally creates the false assumption that it is for “special people” and that anyone who occupies a special position in society can vote on that day, whether or not they registered in the constituency.
Again the impression has been created that anybody who has anything to do with the elections, however remote, can take part in special voting”, he said.
Mr Serebour Quaicoe said there was nothing “special” about special voting and that all the rules of election apply; that a person must be a registered voter in the constituency to be able to apply to be part of special voting in the constituency.
Special voting is a facility provided by law to allow registered voters who will not be able to present themselves at their polling stations due to the role they play in the elections, to vote on a date before the rest of the electorate vote on the date set for the election.
The Electoral Commission and the European Union organised the forum to improve the knowledge of the participants on the electoral process, to safeguard the process by insisting on candidates’ compliance to the basic rules, as provided in the electoral laws and code of conduct.
By:Kasapafmonline.com/Ghana
