EC boss explains how some names were omitted from new voters' register

Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Jean Mensa, has explained how some names were omitted from the current voters register.

The missing names on the recently compiled electoral roll prompted the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to raise a fierce protest against the EC.

In an address delivered on Monday, September 28, 2020, the EC boss said a process to export the information of registered voters onto secured storage is to blame for the missing names in the register.

“Registration of voters is done using Biometric Registration Devices at the Polling Stations. Thereafter, the data is then transmitted to the data centre where it undergoes the process of de-duplication by the Automatic Biometric Identification System (ABIS).

“In other words, the data is exported for secure storage and further analysis. The provisional register is then produced. In a few instances, the process of exportation of data from the USB sticks to the central server was faulty leading to shortfalls of data in some areas

“It is important to highlight that although the registration process is IT-driven, there is still a significant amount of human involvement that may result in errors in every step of the process from registration to exhibition. In short, due to unintentional human and administrative errors, the process of exportation of data from the BVD kits to the USB sticks and then to the Central Database was in a few instances faulty leading to shortfalls in some areas. In a nutshell, our technology performed optimally as expected, however, in some areas, the human element of ours fell short leading to some of the gaps in the data we experienced,” she explained.

The presidential candidate of the NDC, John Dramani Mahama, has cited missing names reported in some polling stations as part of a grand scheme by the EC to disenfranchise some eligible voters in the upcoming polls on December 7, 2020.

He said at a press conference recently that his party will not accept the results of a flawed election.

Addressing the media why he believes there is a deliberate attempt to delete some names from the register, John Mahama indicated that the NDC has always exercised restraint in the entire process despite the anomalies.

"But let me reiterate again that we will not accept the results of a flawed election. We will certainly not look on, neither will we shirk our civil responsibility and allow the EC whether by ill intent or sheer incompetence to usurp the people’s mandate in the December 7, polls,” he said.

The Electoral Commission, he suggested, must take immediate steps to rectify and sanitise the register and re-exhibit it to allow the voting public to verify their particulars in the voters register before it is finalised.