17,029,971 Voters in register

• Posted on November 9, 2020November 9, 2020
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

THE ELECTORAL Commission (EC) has expressed confidence in the credibility and integrity of the 2020 voters’ register, and said it had a total of 17,029,971, while 32,621 persons had been placed on the multiples and exceptions list.

Chairperson of the EC, Mrs. Jean Mensa, said of these figures, 18,619 persons engaged in multiple registration and 14,002 engaged in various illegal practices, including “under aged voting and voting by non-Ghanaians,” adding that they are banned from voting on election day because “they are all on the list we call exceptions list.”

“It is important to correct an impression that the 18,619 names on the multiples list refers to individuals. For the record, this number reflects the total number of multiple registrations, as such if a person has registered 10 times, all the 10 instances will be on the list.  It is therefore not made up of 18,619 unique individuals, but rather of multiple registrations,” she explained.

Printing of Ballots

Briefing Parliament on the preparations towards 2020 general election, Mrs. Mensa revealed that the printing of ballots was currently underway in seven printing houses in Accra and named them as Buck Press Limited, Assembly Press (Ghana Publishing Company), Fonstat Limited, Innolink, Yasarko Limited, Checkpoint Limited and Acts Commercial Limited.

The commissioner said the majority of the printing houses had been used by the EC since the year 1992, and added that at the time, the agents of the political parties and “the security agencies were monitoring the recesses in all the printing houses.”

“I am happy to report that printing of the Notice of Poll for the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections has been completed,” she disclosed and indicated that in terms of the presidential ballots, the printing for the Ashanti, Volta, Western North, and Upper East regions were done or almost done.

“The printing of our 2020 Register is also currently underway and we are confident that we will complete this process and distribute the registers well in time for the December 2020 election. It is important to note, Mr. Speaker, that the political parties have submitted their hard drives to the EC. A soft copy of the register was made available to them on November 6, 2020,” the chairperson disclosed.

Printing of Pink Sheets

Mrs. Mensa stated that the printing of the Results Collation Sheet for presidential and parliamentary elections popularly known as the Pink Sheets was commencing on Sunday, November 8, 2020.

“All political parties have been duly informed accordingly and will monitor the process throughout,” she noted.

Recruitment and Training

Mrs. Mensa said the EC had to date employed close to 233,632 temporary officials made up of returning officers and their deputies, presiding officers, verification officers, name reference officers as well as a Covid-19 ambassadors for the December 2020 elections.

“A comprehensive training programme has been drawn for each category of officials. We are confident that with the capacity building provided, our teams will be equipped with the requisite skills to enable them to perform excellently on Election Day,” she said.

By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House