The Electoral Commission (EC) has reiterated calls for polls in Ghana to end at 3 pm.
Currently, the polls start at 7:00 am and close at 5:00 pm, except in places where voters are found in the queue before the scheduled time.
According to the Commission, this will help its officers count ballot papers on time and forestall challenges associated with the collation of results which drags late into the night or the following day.
Speaking at an IPAC review workshop on the 2020 polls, on Tuesday, May 18, 2021, the Chairperson of the Commission, Jean Mensa, said this is a reform she hopes will be adopted by the various stakeholders in the country’s election space.
“We propose closing the polls at 3:00pm rather than 5:00pm. In 2019, we announced our decision to close the polls at 3:00pm rather than 5:00pm in the 2020 elections. Nonetheless, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and the stringent, and necessarily time-consuming safety protocols we instituted at our polling stations, we were compelled to put this proposal on hold,” she said.
Jean Mensa added that: “Over the past months, however, this proposal has re-surfaced from various sections of the public, and indeed, our own experience from the 2020 elections has revealed that it is a workable proposal, as, by 1:00pm, most polling stations were empty, suggesting that this is a workable proposal. Therefore, this is a reform we intend to put forward.”
Jean Mensa also used the opportunity to propose for the continued registration of new voters.
“We propose to do away with the system of periodic nationwide registration exercises, and institute an all-round system where citizens who turn 18, or persons who have not previously registered, may visit any district office with their Ghana card or passport and register as voters.”
The Electoral Commission Chair said this will help do away with nationwide registration exercises and go a long way to reduce the cost of elections in Ghana.