Special voting in the regions
The special voting exercise that took place yesterday in polling stations across 275 constituencies in the country suffered some challenges.
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While the Electoral Commission (EC) insisted that persons who registered for special voting should be allowed to vote at the various constituencies they had been designated to, many could not vote because they could not find their names on the register.
Some police and security personnel were also very angry as their names were not on the list.
Responding to these concerns, the Public Relations Officer of the Electoral Commission, Mr Eric Dzapasu, said the Commission would take measures to immediately resolve the challenges.
Meanwhile, from Wa in the Upper West Region, Michael Quaye reports that more than 20 voters from various backgrounds were turned away because their names were not in the special voters register.
Officials of the electoral process in Wa Municipality said most of those turned away may have had their names in some other list elsewhere because they might have registered there and failed to transfer their votes to the Wa Municipality.
Some of those who were unable to vote expressed disappointment, but refused to discuss whether they had registered in Wa or even transferred their votes to the municipality.
Mr Adams Iddrisu Thirdman, the Presiding Officer for Wa Municipality, told the Daily Graphic that the failure by persons to transfer their votes to the municipality appeared to be the reason their names were not on the list.
From AGOTIME KPETOE, Tim Dzamboe reports that the special voting exercise took off smoothly without any hitch at the Agotime-Ziope electoral area in the Volta Region.
When the Daily Graphic visited the polling station at 11 a.m., the presiding officer, Madam Helen Tsigbe, said there were 266 names in the register which were expected to vote, and 100 of them had cast their votes.
Nonetheless, there were a number of security officers who could not find their names in the register. At the Ho Central electoral office, a long winding queue was observed as early as 7 a.m.
Samuel Duodu reports from the Northern Region that some members of the security services could not cast their votes in the special voting exercise in the Tamale Metropolis, Sagnarigu District and the Yendi Municipality.
The officers from the police, prisons, immigration, customs, fire service and the military who went to the Police Headquarters in Tamale and the Kamina Barracks, the designated centres for the special voting in the Tamale Central and Sagnarigu constituencies, could not find their names on the special voting lists.
Some security officers who could not find their names on the lists left the centres disappointed and said they would make sure to exercise their franchise on December 7.
One of the disappointed security officers who pleaded anonymity explained to the Daily Graphic that they submit their names and voter identification numbers to the Regional EC office every election year for the list to be compiled, but this year they were asked to submit the information to their national headquarters in Accra so they do not know where the problem is coming from.
When contacted, the Northern Regional Director of the EC, Mr Bruce Ayisi, told the Daily Graphic a total of 13,443 people from the various security agencies, electoral staff and other temporal staff of the commission recruited for the December 7 polls were expected to take part in the special voting in the 18 designated centres for the exercise across the region.
Donald Ato Dapatem & Kwadwo Baffoe Donkor report from KUMASI that some security personnel, mostly military men in Kumasi, who could not find their names on the list of voters for today’s special voting have threatened not to participate in election duties on December 7.
They argued that there was no justification for losing their civic responsibility guaranteed by the 1992 Constitution to cast their ballot for no fault of theirs during Election Day and that they would boycott all activities and vote to select a president and a Member of Parliament (MP) of their choice.
At the Regional Police Headquarters in Kumasi where voters from the Subin Constituency were voting, some of the military personnel could not find their names, with some of them visiting as many as seven constituencies to no avail.
The men, who did not want to be named for fear of identification and victimisation, told the Daily Graphic that they submitted their names for the special voting as directed by the military command because they would be engaged in special duties on the Election Day.
They threatened to boycott election-day duty, adding that they could not be denied their constitutional right.
At Patase, a police officer stationed at Nyinahini said though he registered at Atwima Mponua and requested to cast his special ballot at the same constituency, he could not find his name and had to travel to Patase where he thought he could vote but his name was not on the list.
Felix A. Baidoo reports from Kuntanase in the Ashanti Region that the exercise did not record any reported incident or technical glitches.
A total of 387 voters out of 455 had voted as at 4:20 p.m. and they comprised of security personnel and staff of the electoral commission.
The District Director of the Electoral Commission, Madam Ernestina Owusu-Banahene, told Daily Graphic that all materials meant for the smooth conduct of the election were received for the election.
From SEKONDI-TAKORADI, Akwasi Ampratwum-Mensah reports that the special voting exercise in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis in the Western Region started in earnest but with disappointment galore as some of the voters could not trace their names in the voters list.
However, Mr Michael Opoku-Mensah, the region’s director of the EC, insisted that those whose names were not captured on the list could not vote and would have to go to their original registration centres to exercise their franchise on December 7, 2016 when the national ballot takes place.
A total of 7,016 persons in the 26 constituencies in the region were expected to vote in the special exercise, according to the EC Director.
Patronage was impressive, as there were long winding queues at all the three polling stations (PS) in the Takoradi District of the (EC).
The special voting exercise in the Agona West Constituency in the Central Region began smoothly at the Divisional Police headquarters in Agona Swedru in the Central Region, reports Gilbert Mawuli Agbey.
The names of few eligible voters could not be found in the register, but there was no incidence of violence. A good number of security officers, media practitioners, teachers recruited by the EC and others who wanted to vote at Awutu-Senya East during the Special Voting could not vote because their names are not in the special voters register although their names were allegedly forwarded to the Electoral Commission to be included in the list, Bernard Quanson reports from Kasoa in the Central Region.
The District Electoral Officer at Awutu-Senya East, Mr Dominic Aganu, who spoke to the Daily Graphic in an interview, said the persons who did not find their names in the register failed to follow the procedure to get their names in the early voters list.
From Bolgatanga, Vincent Amenuveve reports that voting was temporarily brought to a halt at the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs (UERHCs) polling centre when some party agents protested against voting at the centre by about 703 recruits from the Pwalugu Police Public Safety Training School (PPSTS) located in the Talensi District.
As a result of the misunderstanding, party agents from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the Convention People’s Party (CPP) vowed that they would not allow the recruits to continue voting and subsequently asked them to go back and vote in Talensi where they were supposed to vote.
The Bolgatanga Central Youth Organiser of the NPP, Mr Aaron Abongo and the Upper East Regional Director of Elections of the CPP, Mr Mohammed Akumbey Jnr, both angrily told the Daily Graphic that the recruits had not yet passed out as security personnel; hence, they did not qualify to vote as special voters.
Initially, long queues were formed from the polling centre to outside of it but after security personnel detailed to maintain law and order intervened and the recruits left the scene, the queues reduced drastically and voting continued.
Some of the voters came to the UERHCs polling centre as early as 4 a.m. to vote, while the election officials and electoral materials arrived at the centre before 6 a.m. for the exercise to begin.
George Folley reports from Effiduase in the New Juaben North Constituency and the Galloway Police Canteen in the New Juaben South Constituency in the Eastern Region that there were two polling stations with long queues but some of the voters could not find their names.
Some journalists, including this Daily Graphic Reporter, and security personnel who could not trace their names, although they submitted their particulars, expressed disappointment and desperation.
Nii Okpey of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation whose name appeared on the register was not allowed to vote with the excuse that he had to go to Accra to do so.
From Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region, Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah reports that there was total disorder at the Brong Ahafo Regional Police Headquarters where hundreds of special voters had gathered to cast their votes in this year’s general election.
EC officials look on helpless as personnel from the various security agencies jostled to find their names on the voters list in order to cast their votes.
Scores of the security personnel who could not find their names stood in groups discussing their fate and wondered if they could be allowed to exercise their franchise on December 7, 2016 after today’s debacle.
The Sunyani East Constituency had a total of 1,216 names on the special voter’s list.
There were two polling stations for the special voting exercise, one at the Regional Police headquarters and the other one at the Liberation Barracks.
“It is unfortunate that this is happening here. We have come to your premises and instead of behaving well, you are making our work difficult for us,” the Presiding Officer, Mr Yaw Boadu Amaniampong, told the Daily Graphic.
