Pilot biometric voter’s registration begins in Northern Region

The Electoral Commission (EC) in the Northern Region would undertake a pilot Biometric Voter’s Registration exercise in the Region from February 25-28, 2012 from 7:00am to 6:00pm daily in two polling stations.

The exercise which is part of a nationwide project towards the 2012 general elections would be conducted in the Kamina Primary School at Kamina Barracks in Tamale and Tali R/C Primary School in the Tolon/Kumbungu District.

This was contained in a press release signed by Mr. Sylvester Kanyi, Regional Director of EC and made available to the Ghana News Agency in Tamale on Wednesday.

The statement urged the general public to fully participate or observe the process since it was new and that it was to enable the EC to fully prepare towards a nationwide registration exercise which begins on Saturday 24th March to Saturday 5th April.

It said the biometric voter’s registration was a complete replacement of the Voters Register and as such the current Voter ID Cards will no longer be valid.

The release also indicated that the nationwide registration would be carried out in phases in all the polling stations in the country and appealed to qualified voters to go to the polling stations nearest to where they lived to be registered.

It further stated that all applicants will have their ten fingerprints captured digitally and would provide their bio-data, explaining that  for applicants who had lost some fingers, the prints of the available fingers would be captured.

According to the release, special arrangements would be made for the registration of people who did not have any fingers at all, adding that photographs of applicants will also be taken and appealed to the public to cooperate for a successful exercise.

Source: GNA