The Electoral Commission (EC) in Tamale has expressed surprise at the overwhelming number of eligible voters who have turned out to register in the EC’s one-day voter registration exercise.
The electoral roll has been opened from 7 am to 6 pm today, October 1, 2020, at its district offices for persons who could not participate in the mass registration exercise organised in June and July.
At the Tamale district office of the EC, hundreds of eligible voters had queued to register for the voter ID card.
But as at about 9:30 am only 28 people had registered to vote.
Speaking to Citi News the District EC boss, Bismarck Nteh, said the office has made provision for two machines to quicken the registration process.
Mr. Nteh noted that the commission started the registration process late because of “a problem with coding our kit.”
“We are surprised that we have such a huge number this morning. We were not expecting such a huge number in Tamale this morning.”
“At the time of the major registration, we thought we had registered almost all the people but to come and see such a huge number, I was surprised.”
There have been general complaints about the slow pace of the process.
In the Ashaiman District, the registration process started after a two-hour delay and some of the registrants also lamented the delays.
In the Ashanti Region, a number of persons within the Asawase constituency who visited the Asokore Mampong Municipal EC office complained about the slow pace of the process.
These concerned compelled the leadership of the National Democratic Congress in the Asawase Constituency to question the readiness of the EC to effectively carry out with the exercise.
It fears many applicants will not be able to register due to the slow nature of the process.
It has thus called for the exercise to be extended.
“We are calling on the Electoral Commission at least increase the days because looking at the people in the queue and looking at how the registration process is going on, we can register all these people by the close of the day,” Mugis Mahdi, the NDC Constituency Secretary for Asawase said.
