The Electoral Commission is proposing to close polls at 3 pm during next year’s general elections.
The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Jean Mensa made the statement during a presentation to the National Peace Council and the International Republic Institute at Peduase in the Eastern Region on Thursday.
The theme for the occasion was “Stock Taking Conference As Part Of The Preparations Towards 2024 General Elections”
“Based on our 2020 experience and feedback from several Observer Groups, we propose to close polls at 3 pm. Our experience in 2020 revealed that by 1 pm, 70% of our polling stations were empty of voters as most voters had cast their votes. This was made possible because the threshold for most Polling Stations was reduced to 500 voters per polling station. We are convinced that closing the polls at 3 pm will enable counting and collating to take place in broad daylight and promote the needed transparency and orderliness we so desire,” the EC boss said
She said the EC will uphold its policy of reducing the Voter threshold in each of the polling stations to 500 voters and below.
“In the same vein, we will increase the number of polling stations nationwide. This will go a long way to reduce the long queues which characterized our elections prior to 2020 and allow for a smooth, seamless, hassle-free voting process. In 2020 it took voters no more than five (5) minutes to cast their vote due to the introduction of this policy,” she added.
She expressed the hope that Ghana’s Parliament will support this drive to ensure greater transparency and orderliness in our electoral process.
On other election related activities , Madam Jean Mensah said “As part of reforms ahead of Election 2024, we propose an all-year-round exhibition exercise which will enable citizens check their registration details on their smartphones and other mobile devices. Citizens no longer have to wait for Limited Exhibition Exercise to check their registration details.
“We have since this year’s exhibition exercise put in place this regime. As such, interested voters can verify their details when they so wish
“Ladies and Gentlemen, we propose to strengthen our Results collation and transmission system so as to ensure greater transparency. In this regard, we intend to display the results from the polling station on a dedicated portal. This proposal aligns with the EU Observer Mission recommendation. For the first time in our history, we posted results from the 16 Regions and 275 Constituencies in real time. The results were posted on our website within 48 hours of the polls, ahead of the declaration of Presidential results,”
