The 2024 Elections: Polls close at 3 p.m.?
The Electoral Commission (EC) is proposing that for the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections, polls should close at 3 p.m. instead of the traditional 5 p.m.
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If this proposed change goes through, polling hours will be reduced by two hours.
I have a few questions I believe the Electoral Commission must provide satisfactory answers to as it makes a strong case for this.
Proposed idea & voter
The constitution guarantees that “every citizen of Ghana of 18 years of age or above and of sound mind has the right to vote and is entitled to be registered as a voter for the purposes of public elections and referenda”.
Whenever election laws and rules are proposed, the starting point for me is the voter and their constitutionally guaranteed right to vote.
This is because I sincerely hold that election laws and rules must facilitate rather than potentially burden the voter in the exercise of this fundamental right.
Voters have so far been voting in a ten-hour window.
This window allows voters with different obligations during the day to find an appropriate time to cast their vote.
The proposal reduces voting time to an eight-hour window.
What is the potential impact of a two-hour reduction in the voting window on the voter?
Does the eight-hour window place any undue burden on a potential voter?
Does the proposed idea have any potential adverse impact on the voter?
I believe these are fair questions to ask and for which the commission must be prepared to provide satisfactory answers.
Public backing is always helpful as we get ready for another major election.
Electoral Commission
From the news reports, the EC’s proposed idea is based on the following – a) per the 2020 election, seventy per cent (70%) of polling stations witnessed very limited to no activity after 1 p.m.; b) counting and collating votes in broad daylight; and c) promoting transparency and orderliness.
If I were to sum up all three reasons above into a single statement, it appears to me the key driver is improvement in the administrative efficiency of the electoral process.
In principle, no one would argue against efforts to improve the electoral process and strengthen confidence in election outcomes.
In practice, the proposal raises a few questions.
Why is the proposal being restricted to lessons learned from the 2020 elections?
Keep in mind that that election year was an anomaly, as we were still in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, which could have impacted the behaviour of voters in terms of when to show up to the polls.
Do our previous elections offer the same lessons of limited voter activity after 1 p.m.?
What happens to the other thirty per cent (30%) of voting centres where there was still activity after 1 p.m.?
What does the loss of two hours in the voting window mean for voters in those voting centres?
Again, on the issue of counting and collating votes in broad daylight, what problems have our elections, not just the most recent, unearthed that require a shortening of the voting window by two hours?
And does the two hours provide the process with enough daylight savings to achieve the desire to count and collate votes in broad daylight?
I agree with the commission that orderliness and transparency are important pillars of any electoral process, as they go a long way to cement the confidence of voters not just in the process, but also in the outcomes.
Ultimately, we want voters to judge the election outcome as completely free and fair.
My question for the commission is: “How have previous elections with poll closings at 5 p.m. denied the process of orderliness and transparency?”
And more importantly, how does a reduction of two hours of the voting window achieve this noble intention?
The burden is on the Electoral Commission to bring all stakeholders along to fully embrace this proposal.
To get stakeholders to buy into the idea, the commission needs to provide satisfactory answers to the many questions that will be raised in response to the proposal.
Some of those questions I raise here.
Proposed idea & electoral process
As we approach the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections, the EC, in its capacity as the election management body, will offer proposals on how to strengthen the administrative efficiency of the electoral process.
That for me is a noble thing to do.
The Commission must weigh the need for administrative efficiency against the potential burden it places on the voter in exercising their fundamental right to vote.
In the end, it may well be that polls would have to close at 3 p.m. in 2024.
The burden is on the EC to make a convincing case for it.
The writer is a Democracy and Development Fellow at the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana).