Read Time: 4 minutes
THE GHANA CARD AND REGISTRATION OF VOTERS
Article 42 of the constitution guarantees the right to vote to every Ghanaian who is at least 18 years old and of a sound mind.
What article 42 does not do is to provide how to identify a citizen of Ghana.
The EC has over the years relied on various identification documents including the guarantor system for those who do not have the required form of identification.
Regulation 1 (3) of the proposed CI primarily requires that anyone who wants to register as a voter must acquire the Ghana card which shows evidence of identification of the owner of the card.
The proposed C.I requires anyone who wants to register as a voter to provide the Ghana Card as evidence of identification (citizenship and age) to meet the requirements of article 42.
It is the view of the Commission that the Ghana Card addresses this concern because it shows one’s citizenship and age.
Once one acquires the Ghana Card, the Personal Identification Number (PIN) becomes a permanent identity
THE GUARANTOR SYSTEM
The guarantor system was introduced in 1992 to cater for applicants without any form of identification.
The National Identity Register Regulations, 2012 (LI 2111) enjoins the EC in Regulation 7:1j to use the Ghana Card for registration of voters.
Voters hid behind the guarantor system to guarantee for people they have never met.
The guarantor system opened the gate for Non-Ghanaians and minors to register.
The guarantor system is also a source of conflict at the registration centers because agents of the political parties try to at times use violent means to prevent people who they believe are unqualified to register as voters.
EC DISTRICT OFFICES AS REGISTRATION CENTRES
According to the new C.I, in Regulation 2b, in addition to registration at the District Offices, the Commission shall designate additional centers which will be gazetted for registration.
The EC has been registering at the district offices on several occasions. As recent as 2020, registration took place at the district offices for the elderly and the vulnerable ahead of the general elections.
REGISTRATION SUPERVISORS AND REGIONAL DIRECTORS OF THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION
The Commission wants to mainstream the continuous registration of voters. The District Electoral Officers will serve as registration supervisors.
The District Electoral Officers/Registration Supervisors will therefore report to the Regional Directors.
VOTERS REGISTER
There will be no room for people to vote more than once because of the following:
The Electoral Area register consists of polling stations registers forming an electoral area and that is what is used to conduct elections for Assembly Members and Unit Committee Members.
The Constituency Register consists of polling stations registers forming a constituency and that is what is used to conduct elections for Parliamentarians.
There are therefore, the polling station register, an electoral area register, a constituency register and a national register. The national register is used to elect the president of the country.
The BVDs contain the data of voters for a specific Constituency but becomes polling station specific immediately it is used for a particular polling station.
For a voter to be verified by a BVD, that voter’s name and quick response (QR) code should belong to that particular polling station.
There will be no multiple voting because a voter’s name cannot appear in different registers and therefore nobody can vote more than once.
Repeal of C.I 91 and C.I 126
Regulation 33, Sub Regulation (2) states that: despite the revocation of the enactments specified under sub regulation (1), the existing Voter Register in force immediately before the coming into force of these Regulations shall be considered to have been issued under these Regulations and shall continue to have effect until the Commission compiles a new Voters Register.
It is clear from this that all the 17m people, who registered under C.I 91 will continue to be qualified voters under the new C.I.
Exclusion of the NDC from the C.I Process
The new C.I has been discussed at IPAC meetings on more than four occasions. There is no sub-committee of IPAC; therefore no sub-committee has been discussing the C.I. In all these meetings the NDC was invited and minutes were shared with the NDC.
The Commission wrote to the NDC to nominate one person to serve on the modalities committee, which will develop the modalities for the continuous registration voters, after the new C.I has been passed. The NDC actually submitted the names of two persons for this assignment.
The modalities committee is yet to start work because the new C.I has not been passed.
The Electoral Commission and National Security
The Electoral Process is perhaps the most transparent of its kind around the world.
Stakeholders, especially political parties are part of the process from the registration, nomination, printing and distribution of ballot papers, voting and declaration of results. The Political Parties send their agents or representatives to observe the activities at all the stages and can question any irregularities at each stage.
Agents of Political Parties are involved in all these various stages; as a result, any talk of rigging elections by the EC is a figment of someone’s imagination. This cannot happen in Ghana’s elections.
Electoral Commission and National Security cannot collude to rig elections in Ghana and all stakeholders including the Political Parties know this.
The EC has said on several platforms that this registration is going to be a continuous one. This means that it is going to be continuous till 7th October, 2024 for the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections.