EC says voter verification machines reliable

The verification machines for this year’s general election were custom-made for Ghana and are more than 99 per cent reliable, says Mrs Gloria Asante, a Principal Electoral officer at the Electoral Commission.

Mrs Asante gave the assurance at a sensitisation workshop for 40 Church leaders mainly the youth from Kpando, Kpetoe, Kpeve, Adaklu and Ho in the Volta Region on Thursday.

It was organised by the Christian Council of Ghana, as part of its education on election monitoring 2012 project and supported by Church Development Service and Bread for the World Germany.

Mrs Asante spoke on Biometric voter registration and verification, electoral laws and voting procedures.

She said because the verification machines were designed to carry out what the name implies the likelihood of becoming malfunction are very minimal.

Nevertheless provisions were made for back-ups.

Mrs Asante denied that the machines were designed to verify a limited number of voters explaining that each has the capacity to cater for the number of voters registered in each polling station.

She said on December 7, any voter who makes a mistake on his or her ballot paper could return the spoilt ballot for a new one.

She however explained that if the voter repeats the mistake then the mental state of that person would be suspect.

Mrs Asante said the list of people who registered twice would be available at the polling stations and the culprits risk being arrested when they appear to exercise their franchise.

Ms Doris Gbongbo of the National Commission for Civic Education said though elections in Ghana are not compulsory those who are qualified to so must see it as a right and obligation.

She said it is up to every qualified voter to listen to and assess the various candidates dispassionately before deciding which of them to vote for.

This is because the choices made would be crucial to the direction in which the country would move during the tenure of those who would be given the mandate to rule.

Source: GNA