Policy think tank YAFO Institute has added its voice to calls to spread out the limited voter registration exercise to all polling stations or electoral centres of the Electoral Commission.
In a statement on Monday, September 18, 2023, the Institute disagreed with the Electoral Commission’s stance of using its 268 district offices for the exercise.
According to the YAFO Institute, the position of the EC has the potential to disenfranchise prospective voters from voting on election day.
“The ongoing voter registration undertaken by the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana at its 268 district offices is a crucial process however, it would displace new voters on election day if reasonableness is not exercised. This is because, the registration exercise is not decentralized enough to inform new voters about their respective polling stations where they can exercise their franchise on election day.”
The Institute noted that registration at only the 268 district offices of the EC would nullify the usual principle of “vote where you registered” because voters in the over 30,000 polling stations designated by the EC would have challenges identifying their polling stations on the actual day of voting.
“Because the registration process is focused on the 268 district offices of the EC, new voters would be dispersed from the 275 constituencies. Additionally, the old credo “vote where you registered” would no longer apply, and new voters would be required to locate the proper polling stations that correspond with their voter ID/serial number in order to cast their ballots”, the statement added.
The statement explained further that the close proximity of registration centers to voters would give existing voters the opportunity to vouch for the identity of new voters in line with C.I. 91 (as amended by C.I. 126), which provides for a maximum of 10 guarantors.
The Institute additionally reasoned that decentralizing the exercise would save both individual voters and the EC time and financial resources.
