Social Distancing Challenges: EC institutes queue management system

The Electoral Commission has initiated a queue management system at its registration centres to prevent overcrowding and the breach of anti -COVID-19 social distancing rules by anxious applicants seeking to acquire their Voters Identification card.

A statement copied to the Ghana News Agency explained that under the queue management system, the first 150 applicants who arrived at the Registration Centres would be provided with numbered chits.

The first half of this number, it said, would be served from morning to early afternoon; while the second half would be asked to leave the centres and return in the afternoon when the registration of the first batch would have been completed.

The statement said it would continue to review and improve upon the processes to ensure citizens registered in a safe and secure environment.

“The Commission believes that this system will go a long way towards reducing overcrowding and long queues and help with the enforcement of social distancing protocols at the Centres,” it said.

The statement reiterated that the Commission would ensure that citizens who qualified were afforded the opportunity to register and cast their votes.

“We encourage constructive feedback from the general public, which is aimed at improving the Registration Exercise, which is already motion,” it said.

The EC is seeking to register about 16 million Ghanaians from June 30 to August 06, under a cluster system at 33,367 polling stations nationwide.

Though the process has been progressing smoothly, the lack of effective management of applicants outside the registration perimeter has been a challenge, leading to overcrowding at some of the centres.