In many of the 26,002 polling stations across the country, voting had to begin long after 7 a.m. due to the late delivery of election materials.

But the Electoral Commission (EC), the body responsible for the conduct of the elections, managed to rise up to the challenge to resolve the initial difficulties for voting to pass off orderly.

There were also reported cases of breakdown of verification machines and inadequate security at some of the stations.

 From the Bishop Bowers Polling Station in the Ablekumah South Constituency, Lloyd Evans and Victoria Odoi report that as of 10a.m., 172 out of  929 eligible voters had cast their votes.

At Chorkor Tanteman in the Ablekuma South Constituency, five polling stations had been sited closely together at one of the centres, making it difficult for voters to readily identify which of the stations to vote, until the police were brought in to restore order.

Voting at some stations in the same constituency were, however, orderly and smooth.

At the Ghana Muslim Mission Polling Station, 114 out of 351 registered voters had cast their vote by mid-day.

Rosemary Ardayfio reports that some voters at Gbawe spent  part of the night at the Methodist Church Polling Station where they were to cast their votes.

As early as 1.00 am. they queued at the polling station sitting on plastic chairs and stools.

Voting, which started around 7.40 am, was orderly.

There were, however, a few incidents where voters who had their voter identification cards were not allowed to vote because the verification machine did not validate their fingerprints.

From the Taifa North Pentecost Polling Centres A and B, 3,000 people were expected to cast their votes, Hannah Amoah reports.

Voting delayed for two-and-a-half hours because the ballot boxes which were brought in by the EC officials did not have any lids to cover them and the voters would not want to vote without them.

The situation compelled EC officials to go back to the EC headquarters to collect the lids to cover the boxes before voters cast their votes.

By 10:30 am, a little over 100 people had voted.

At the Agyiri Nyarko School Complex in the Ashaiman Constituency, voting started as early as 7:15 am at the two polling stations, reports Augustine Andoh.

As of 11 a.m., 389 people had cast their vote at Station A, while 330 people had cast their votes at Station B.

From the Klottey Korle Constituency, Kofi Yeboah reports from the SIC Club Polling Station that voting started at 7:30 am and everything was moving on smoothly as of 11a.m.

At the Pentecost Polling Station one, 244 out of 625 people had voted as of 11:30 a.m.

Voting started peacefully at 7:00 am prompt at the St Johns Methodist Church, Tantra Hill, writes Esther Somuah from Trobu Constituency.

As at 8:45 am, 98 people had cast their votes out of 963 registered voters.

The voting process was smooth and it took each voter less than two minutes to cast his or  her vote.

Amma Appenteng reports from the Saps School Polling Station in the Ledzokuku Constituency that voting started at 8.10 am.

A blind woman could not vote because the verification machine could  not verify her name although her name was in the voters register.

Stephen Sah reports from Nungua in the Krowor Constituency that voting at some polling stations delayed because election materials did not arrive early enough.

At the Adogono last Stop Polling Station, for example, anxious voters had queued as early as 4a.m.

But voting really started at 8.37 a.m and went on very smoothly.

Voting at some polling stations at Anyaa-Sowutoum Constituency started late due to late arrival of electoral materials, writes Mary Ankrah.

At the Race Course “Trotro” Polling Station, the electoral materials arrived at 6:58 am. but voting started at exactly 8 am.

The electoral officials spent about two hours to arrange the area, as well as position the electoral materials at the designated points.

Salomey Appiah reports from Adabraka Presby School in the Klottey Korley Constituency that voting started around 9:20 am.

At the Letemens Bakery Polling Station, 1,022 people were expected to vote, but the voting process started around 8:15 am.

According to the presiding officer, Mr Joseph Addy, there was no back-up machine despite the large number of voters.

From the Ayawaso Central Constituency,  Augustina Tawiah reports that voting did not start early in most of the centres.

At the Mrs Duah’s Maternity Home Polling Station at New Town, voting started at 7:40 am and the presiding officer, Mr Peter Agbeadzi, attributed the problem to delays in the delivery of electoral materials.

As of 8:55 am, he said he had still not received the presidential declaration form.

He, however, said voting was going on smoothly, except for the fact that some of the voters in the queue were complaining of people jumping the queue.

Jojo Sam reports from Iglesie Amanfrom Constituency that voting at the Wisdom Polling booth which began at 7:45 am was calm in spite of the very long queue.

There was a separate queue for pregnant women, the disabled and the aged.

The situation at Lorry Station Polling booth in the same constituency was one of apprehension and restlessness because of the late arrival of voting materials which got there around 10 am.

The original queue that was formed was broken up, leading to a stampede and a scramble for positions when the ballot papers arrived.

The only policeman present had a hectic time to bring the situation under control.