The Electoral Commission begins the limited voter registration exercise today, Tuesday, May 7, aimed at first-time voters and individuals seeking to obtain a voter card. The 21-day exercise will conclude on May 27, 2024.
Chairperson of the EC, Madam Jean Mensa, stated that the exercise targets approximately 623,000 first-time voters nationwide. She explained that the registration will be from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, emphasizing the flexibility to accommodate a higher number of registrants if necessary.
“The registration will be from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. And that gives us the figure of 623,000 that we have put there. That is not to say that we cannot go beyond that. We did mention that in 2023, we projected 700,000 people to visit our registration centres.”
In preparation for potential power outages, all district offices have secured generators. Madam Jean Mensa assured that these generators will ensure continuous voter registration services. In case of power failure, registration will switch to an “offline” mode, allowing manual registration with data stored on a pen drive until power is restored.
“We are trying hard to, we’ve made arrangements to ensure that we don’t have challenges because of dumsor. What we’ve done is to have all our district offices rent generators so that in the event where there’s dumsor, that can kick in.
“However, should there be the unexpected, we would switch on to the offline and by offline it means the voters will be registered and their details will be put on a pen drive that will be copied in our offices when the light returns, so the registration will not be disrupted.”
