The Electoral Commission (EC) has touted its robust system, indicating that persons who engage in double registration will not be able to vote on December 7, 2024.
The Commission has therefore called on the public, especially those who took part in the 2020 mass registration and 2023 limited voter registration exercises or who may have relocated, to desist from registering again in the ongoing registration.
According to the EC, despite the challenge of its offline mode of registration to instantly detect double registration, its system would later detect double registrants, thus barring them from voting.
It would be recalled that the commission, in a statement on Wednesday, May 8 directed all its district officers to switch to offline mode to allow more applicants who thronged the registration centres to be registered.
Addressing a news conference in Accra on Monday, the Deputy Commissioner, Dr. Eric Bossman Asare, stressed that the commission preferred online registration to offline because online registration prevents instant double registration.
He explained that “with the offline registration because the data is transferred after the registration, you can have instances where registered voters go to the registration centres to register again.”
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He also added that voters who may have lost their voter cards or relocated to new locations tend to register again, which would be impossible to detect instantly.
“In these instances, our system will later identify their registration as double. Thus, making them ineligible to vote in the elections,” he said, adding, “Such persons will not be able to vote in the 2024 general election.”
EC advocates for Ghana Card as sole ID in future registration
The commission further stated that it has resolved the technical challenges that plagued the first three days of the exercise.
EC targets 623,000 first-time voters
Meanwhile, the EC is seeking to register 623,000 first-time voters onto the electoral roll in the ongoing limited voter registration exercise across the country ahead of the December 7 national elections.
The 21-day exercise commenced Tuesday, May 7, in all 258 district offices of the Commission. The exercise is expected to end on Monday, May 27, 2024.
Moreover, the Commission has set up additional 785 centres to cater for individuals who may have difficulty accessing the EC’s district offices.
Also, 25 public universities have been included as registration centres.
“Permanent centres will be set up at the District offices while mobile teams would be used to register eligible applicants in the difficult-to-access Electoral Areas. The list of registration centres will be provided to the Political Parties no later than twenty-one (21) days to the Registration exercise,” the EC noted.
The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Jean Mensa, has emphasised the importance of compiling a credible voter register as election 2024 beckons.
She said that without a credible voter register, there can never be transparent elections.
