Despite a court order, the EC begins limited voter registration today.

Despite a pending interlocutory injunction filed at the Supreme Court by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and four other minority parties, the Electoral Commission (EC) is scheduled to start the Limited Voter Registration exercise at its district offices across the nation today.

On October 2, the 21-day exercise is expected to come to a close. It will begin every day, including weekends, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Target

Based on its prediction that such a number may have reached 18 years after the last registration effort in 2020, the EC set a target to register at least 1,350,000 people in the 2023 voter registration exercise.

Dr. Bossman Eric Asare, a deputy commissioner of the EC in charge of Corporate Services, told the Daily Graphic that because the exercise for people who have turned 18 years of age or older hasn’t been conducted in the last three years, “we expect the numbers to be huge in the opening few days, and hopefully after a week it will normalize.”

In all of its district offices, the commission, he said, projected to register an average of 300 people each day. He urged Ghanaians to take advantage of the program to fulfill their civic duties.

Remember that we have done this before; it happened in 2016, 2019, 2020, and even in 1996.

The worries of the disabled community and those who would travel a great distance have been taken into consideration, according to Dr. Asare.

Dr. Asare emphasized that the Ghana Card, or Ghanaian Passport, is the primary registration credential.

He said that in their absence, two people who have already registered might serve as guarantors for such people.

He promised that the EC would keep an eye on things and take post-registration steps to ensure that no eligible Ghanaian would lose their right to vote.

The District Management System (DMS) will be used for online registration, while the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kit will be used for offline registration.

Political party representatives will receive copies of daily reports on the registration process from the start to the finish at the various registration centers, and each political party is allowed to send one representative to watch the process.

Supreme Court application

The five political parties had earlier requested an interlocutory injunction from the Supreme Court to stop the EC from carrying out the limited voter registration process while the merits of the case were being decided.

The parties, which included the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Convention People’s Party (CPP), All People’s Congress (APC), Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), and Great Consolidated People’s Party (GCPP), believed that restricting the exercise to the EC’s district offices would make it less suitable and accessible for every Ghanaian who wishes to exercise his or her constitutional right to register as a voter.

As part of their reliefs, the parties asked the Supreme Court to declare that upon a true and proper interpretation of Articles 42 and 45 (a) and (e) of the 1992 Constitution and Regulation 2 sub-regulation 2(a) and (b) and Regulation 30(1) of the Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulations 2016 – (C.I. 91) (as amended by C.I. 126), the EC shall designate registration centers that are suitable and accessible to every eligible Ghanaian who is desirous of exercising his or her constitutional right to be registered as a voter.

They also asked the Court to declare that, upon a true and proper interpretation of the above provisions, the EC’s decision to undertake limited voter registration at its district offices would result in voter suppression, hence it was unconstitutional since it would violate first-time voters’ right to vote.

GFD appeal

According to Dickson Worlanyo Dotse, the Ghana Federation of Disability Organizations (GFD) has urged the EC to take action to make the limited voter registration procedure more inclusive for people with disabilities (PWD).

It said that the current procedure was difficult and may in many respects disenfranchise PWDs.

The federation claimed that because of difficulties with accessibility, proximity to different registration centers, and communication, the EC’s decision to conduct the registration exercise solely at its district offices across the country had the potential to exclude many PWDs from taking part in the exercise.

At a press conference in Accra yesterday, the Executive Director of the Ghana Blind Union (GBU), Dr Peter Obeng Asamoah, who spoke on behalf of the GFD, said most of the commission’s district offices were not disability-friendly, making it difficult or impossible to reach them.

“Even though there may be some intentions to hold them at the ground floors, the presence of steps and maybe gutters could present barriers to our members in wheelchairs or those with calipers, thereby denying them of their constitutional rights,” he said.

Dr Asamoah also stated that due to the EC’s decision, members who did not reside close to the district offices could potentially be left out of the registration process and ultimately denied the right to participate in the elections.

He explained that many PWDs were unemployed and, as a result, might not be able to afford the cost of transporting themselves and their assistants or their assistive mobile devices, such as wheelchairs, all the way from their immediate communities to the EC offices.

“So for example, if you’re a blind person, you’re going to have to pay double transportation because of your assistant, and if you’re physically disabled, you’ll pay for your wheelchair too.

“Yet, a recent study has shown that some drivers are unwilling to transport wheelchairs because they take up too much space,” Dr. Asamoah lamented.

The GFD, therefore, urged the EC to decentralize the process and use a community-based approach to ensure that all interested PWDs are able to participate in the process and exercise their franchise. 

Communication

In order for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind to effectively communicate with officials and receive the necessary assistance during the exercise, it was also urged that the EC include sign language interpreters in the dissemination of information about the entire process as well as during the registration process.

Initial exercise awareness videos aired on television lacked sign language interpretation for the deaf community.

This implies that they even watch the commercials without understanding what is going on, Dr. Asamoah emphasized.

Additionally, he urged the EC to collaborate closely with organizations of people with disabilities to offer technical assistance and guidance for the proper inclusion of all people with disabilities in the registration process.

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