No major incident has been recorded at the time when Citi News’ Jonas Nyabor filed this report however pockets of agitation and misunderstanding erupted at some polling stations visited within the Achimota electoral area.

A total of about 76,000 registered voters are expected to cast their ballot across all 106 polling stations in the constituency.

Voting started by 7.20am at the Victory Nursery school polling station A and B voters numbering over two hundred had queued to cast their ballot at the official opening of polls at 7am.

‘Early electorates’

Some electorates had reported to various polling stations within the constituency as early 7pm Tuesday night.

A man who gave his name as Alex said he reported to the polling station at 7.30pm on Tuesday night to avoid the long queue that characterizes the voting at the Achimota central market polling station.

‘Missing names’

Some electorates who visited the Abofu Presby School could not find their names in the voters’ register and were turned down and redirected to other polling stations.

Others who reported without their Voters’ ID card were allowed to vote after their biometric details were confirm in the electoral roll and duly verified by the biometric verification device.

‘Oldies,  lactating mothers considered’

All polling stations visited within the constituency heeded the Electoral Commission’s (EC) appeal to give preferential treatment to the elderly, lactating mothers, persons with disability amongst other persons in marginalized groups.

‘Delays in commencement of poll’

At the Anumle basic school and the Solid Rock Chapel polling stations all in the Anumle electoral area, voting was delayed to 8.30am even though all materials had arrived at the polling stations before 7am.

EC officials said they were unable to start on time due to the absence of a lid to the ballot boxes brought to the polling stations.

It took more than a hour to have the district electoral officer return to the polling stations to provided the lids before polls start.

‘Presence of security personnel’

All polling stations had at least two security officers deployed to man them. The officers comprised those from the Fire Service and the Ghana Police Service.

‘Confusion over situation of ballot cubicles’

Position of ballot cubicles had been a major  issue of concern for most polling agents across the constituency. The polling agents insist the cubicles must be positioned in way that allows for persons in the queue to witness the activity of anyone voting but not the person’s choice of candidate.

Consensus on the matter in the various polling stations in the constituency has been swift hence preventing delays in the voting process.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Missing names, ‘stone queues’, smooth process at Okaikwei North appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This osbecause their names were not in the Electoral Commission’s (EC) register.

As at 2.30pm on Sunday, 3 persons from the security agencies had been turned away from the polling station at the Achimota Police station.

One of the officers who could not cast his ballot at the polling station told Citi News’ Jonas Nyabor that he had been informed by colleagues he could cast his ballot within the constituency since he works within the constituency although he originally votes in another constituency.

The returning officer at the polling station, Gershon Kudzordzi said 19 out of the expected 171 registered voters had cast their ballot as at 2.30pm at the polling station in today’s exercise.

“We have not had any incident here, and the process is moving on smoothly. So far 19 people have cast their ballot. Three people came and their name was no in the registered and they were not allowed to vote,” he said.

He however added that there was no update to the existing special voting list as expected by some voters.
According to him, the constituency was using the same list used in the first phase of the exercise on Thursday.

On Thursday, December 1 when polls opened for special voting, 327 out of the expected 498 voters reported to cast their ballots.

‘Disgruntled special voters offered another opportunity’

The Electoral Commission on Thursday evening announced it had set Sunday [4th December] as a day to allow persons whose names were on the special voting list but were unable to cast their ballots on Thursday for various reasons.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Special voting: More voters turned away in Okaikwei North appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.