Voters registration begins June 30

The Electoral Commission (EC) will start the compilation of a new biometric voters register on Thursday, June 30, this year.

The exercise, which will be held at all registration centres and district offices of the EC throughout the country, is likely to end on August 7, the Daily Graphic has learnt.

A letter dated June 8, 2020, signed by Deputy Chairman of the Commission, Corporate Services, Dr Bossman E. Asare, and sent to all political parties, asked any political party that may require any further information to contact him.

The notification is part of the EC’s rules to inform political parties of such upcoming national exercises 21 days ahead of schedule.

IPAC

At an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting in Accra on May 27, 2020 to discuss the compilation of a new voters register, the EC informed the participants that it had slated the registration exercise to begin from the last week of June to the end of July.

It said the exercise, which would start from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day, would take place at all the 33,367 polling stations, which will serve as registration centres nationwide.

According to the EC, it would adopt the cluster system of registration during the exercise.

“It will be done simultaneously in all the districts/constituencies nationwide, with each cluster consisting of five registration centres”.

“In all, there will be five phases during the registration period, with each registration team working for a period of six days in each phase within the cluster,” the commission said.

Pilot

The EC also conducted a two-day pilot voter registration exercise on June 2 and 3, 2020 at its regional offices across the country.

The exercise was to test run the biometric voter registration (BVR) kits, assess the protocols put in place, among other things, in readiness for the main voters registration exercise to take place.

Training

The EC also trained 42,025 registration officials to equip them with the requisite skills and knowledge desired for the exercise.

The participants included the EC’s regional directors and their deputies, as well as regional supervisors, deputy registration supervisors, district electoral officers and assistant electoral officers.

The officials were taken through the registration procedure, which will cover eligibility criteria, challenge procedures, the vouching process, among others.