Special Voting: 114, 000 to vote - EC clarifies

A little over 114, 000 voters are expected to cast their ballot under the special voting on December 1, 2016, according to the deputy Communications Director of the Electoral Commission, Yusif Ayuba.

Mr. Ayuba told Morning Starr host Nii Arday Clegg Wednesday that the list includes media personnel, security services officials and election officials.

According to Mr. Ayuba, the earlier list of 65, 001 put out by the Head of Communications at the EC, Mr. Eric Kofi Dzakpasu, was not the final list.

He explained that the election management body has now completed the recruitment process for its officials whose data has been added to the list shooting the number from 65, 001 to 114, 000.

The New Patriotic Party was the first to raise red flags over the discrepancies in the special voting numbers saying that the 65, 001 list was not accurate.

The EC, however, maintained that the list for proxy voters is 554 contrary to claims by the NPP that the list is over a 1,000.

Special voting is a special dispensation under the electoral laws that allows registered voters who will not be able to present themselves at their polling stations on voting day as a result of the roles they will play in the elections to vote on a date before the rest of the electorate vote on the date set for the elections.

The category of people who are allowed to do special voting are security personnel, officials of the EC and journalists.

On Monday, November 14, 2016 the Supreme Court dismissed a case intended to pin the Electoral Management Body to declare results of the Early Voting ahead of the main polls slated for December 7.