Osei-Ameyaw supports manual verification
The Vice Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Subsidiary Legislation, Mr Kofi Osei-Ameyaw, has said the clause in the Public Elections Regulations, 2016, also known as CI 94, which allows for manual verification of voters is a step in the right direction which must be supported by all.
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He told the Daily Graphic that if a registered voter went to the polling station to cast his or her ballot and the Biometric Verification Device (BVD) failed to recognise that person's fingerprint, it would be wrong to deny him or her the right to choose his or her leader.
"If someone is a Ghanaian and voter, why should he be denied voting because the machine cannot recognise his thumbprint? It is the machine's fault and not that person's fault. So why should you punish the person?" he asked.
Mr Osei-Ameyaw's position is a departure from that of the party to which he belongs, the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
In 2012, the party canvassed for the introduction of a biometric voters register with biometric verification.
To check fraud, it argued, every voter who intended to vote needed to be biometrically verified, otherwise that person should be barred from casting his or her ballot.
That brought about the catchphrase: "No verification, no vote."
Mr Osei-Ameyaw said the right to vote should not be denied any qualified voter and, therefore, the law must be supported.
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The provision on voting
Article 32 of CI 94 states: “A polling assistant may, before delivering a ballot paper to a person who is to vote at the election, require that person to produce a voter identification card in order to establish that the person is a registered voter whose name, identification number and particulars appear in the register.
(2) In the absence of a voter identification card, the polling assistant shall identify the name and particulars of the voter as recorded in the name reference list.
(3) The polling assistant shall scan the bar code of the voter in order to establish, by facial recognition, the identity of the voter.
(4) The voter shall go through a biometric verification process through the use of a biometric verification device.
(5) Where the biometric verification device fails to verify a registered voter and the red light is shown with a voice message "rejected", the polling assistant shall:
(a) inform the agents of the political parties present at the polling station;
(b) complete a verification form as set out in form seven of the schedule in the presence of the party's candidate or agent; and
(c) hand over the completed verification form to the verification officer.
(6) The verification officer shall draw a horizontal line across the voter's bar code in the register to indicate that the voter has been manually verified.
(7) At the end of the voting and before counting the ballots, the number of persons manually verified shall be entered in the second box in C6 on the Statement of Poll and Declaration of Results Form as set out in form eight of the schedule.”