The Electoral Commission (EC) is to increase the number of polling stations across the country from 26,000 to 35,000.
This is to reduce the voter population at some polling stations, as well as reduce the pressure on the Biometric Verification Device (BVD), to enable it function efficiently without any hitch.
The Chairperson of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and a member of the EC , Mrs Georgina Opoku-Amankwah announced this at a consultative forum on the Public Elections Regulation CI 75 in Koforidua.
She explained that it was a move to address the various challenges encountered with the verification process during the 2012 elections.
Mr Aidoo observed that most of the election officers did not heed to the advice of changing the BVD batteries after every four hours, and said that resulted in the breakdown of most of the machines, thus causing delay in the balloting process.
Mr Aiddo explained that the batteries had been designed to work continuously for four hours, and failure to change them result in the break down of machines, which take longer periods to start working again after the batteries had been changed .
He said to ensure smooth operation , the EC would put stringent measures in place to ensure strict adherence to the handling of the machines, and added that despite the BVD challenges, its advantages far outweigh the challenges.
Mr. Dogbey Adukpo Selormey, Eastern Regional Director of Elections, said a number of votes exceeding that recorded by the BVD and counting mistakes similar to that of the general elections are some of the anticipated challenges to be encountered in the district level elections.
Source: GNA