The Electoral Commission (EC) has today, Friday, October 2, 2020, cleared the backlog of applicants for the special voters’ registration following the inability of officials to register all persons who turned up for the exercise on Thursday at the Asawase constituency of the Ashanti Region.
The exercise was generally smooth at various district offices in the Ashanti Region except for the Asawase constituency where many applicants complained about the slow pace of the process.
According to EC officials, only fourteen eligible applicants at the constituency who were unable to register on Thursday have been given the opportunity to register today.
One of the applicants who came to the office on Friday to complete her process after filling her forms on Thursday, Rabiatu Abdul Aziz, said her issues have been resolved.
“I came here yesterday around 11 am and I left here because of issues with the machine. So they asked us to come today and so now I have my card”, she said.
Meanwhile, some eligible applicants who could not partake in the registration exercise on Thursday trooped to the Asokore Mampong District office of the EC hoping to be given a chance to register.
“I thought the registration was going to take about three to four days but that was not the case. Yesterday’s registration was halted because of some issues. That is why I am here.”
“I came here yesterday but unfortunately they didn’t do it for me. I came here today, and they are telling me they are done working but I still have the hope that I will be registered”, another said.
This arrangement is however only for eligible applicants who went out to register yesterday but could not do so due to time constraints.
The October 1 voter registration exercise targeted qualified persons who could not participate in the mass registration exercise organized in June and July.
The electoral roll was opened from 7 am to 6 pm at the EC’s district offices.
Some people who participated are voters who were outside the country due to COVID-19 restrictions, those who were under a 14-day mandatory quarantine and could not take part in the mass voter registration, and eligible voters who were duly issued voter ID cards but whose names are missing from the register under exhibition.
Persons who recently turned 18 were also given the chance to register.