Ongoing Revision Of The Voters Register

THE FIRST REVISION OF THE BIOMETERIC VOTERS REGISTER: WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
 
In preparation towards the impending District Level Elections, the Electoral Commission began a limited registration of voters in all the
electoral areas. The exercise which started last week on Monday 4th August 2014 will end on Wednesday 13th August 2014. This is also in accordance with article 45(a) of the 1992 constitution that enjoins Electoral commission to compile the register of voters and revise it at such periods as may be determined by law.  

Again, it is in fulfillment of one cardinal Principle that every good voters register must fulfill  the principle of inclusiveness.  As the name indicates, this registration is not another general registration of all eligible voters but rather it targets only those who have attained the voting age of eighteen and above but have not  registered since 2012.

According to the constitutional instrument (CI) 72, the law that
governs the registration of voters in the country, every eligible voter is entitled to be registered once. 

Therefore any attempt to
register more than that,  is a punishable offence.  Those who have misplaced their voter ID cards and those who have moved residence need not register again. There is the temptation for those whose fingerprints could not be identified by the Biometric Verification Device (BVD) to logically go and register again as a way of rectifying the anomaly in their own way.  

All such people should not attempt to register again because their case is not as helpless as they may think. They only need to contact the district office of the commission with their problem for a solution.  

Another group of people who
normally try to jump the queue and make attempt to register even
though not qualified are the youth who are  under eighteen. To such people, they should exercise patience and bid their time,  for there is more sleep after death. They should therefore not sacrifice their childhood rights for voting rights now for that will render them pseudo-adults with false sense of maturity with serious repercussions.

This registration exercise and the 2012 one,  bear some similarities and differences that the public need to know.  First and foremost,  even though this is a limited registration, all the laws that govern registration of voters are actively applicable.  

Like the previous registration, one must be a Ghanaian, 18 years and of sound mind. To prove this eligibility, an applicant should go to the centre with any of the following: a Passport, national Identification Card a driving
license and in the case of those who had the old voters ID card before the 2012 biometric registration, they can provide them as their prove of eligibility. 

In the absence of all these, the applicants needs two guarantors to testify to their qualification to register.  Also, those who have any doubt about the qualification of any applicant can raise a query by way of filling a challenge against the application of that person. 

Again, in addition to the biographic information, the
biographic features like finger print and the photograph of the
registrants are taken and that anyone who will attempt to register more than once will be found out.  

On the other hand, unlike 2012,
this exercise is on electoral areas basis; thus, at least there is one registration centre in every electoral area and the registration is taking place concurrently in all electoral areas at all the designated
registration centers.  

The importance of voter registration in Ghana cannot be over emphasized not only in terms of elections but in other
spheres of life. That is why the article 42 of the 1992 constitution confers on every eligible Ghanaian the right to register as a voter and failure to do so means denying oneself of vital constitutional right. 

Without it, one cannot vote nor contest in any public elections in Ghana. In the same way, one cannot be appointed to occupy
some public offices without being a registered voter. 

In the absence of a general national ID card, the voter ID card is used as an authentic means of identification in many categories of business
transactions. 

As matter of fact, voter registration exercise is one of
the fundamental pre-election activities in the electoral process and there cannot be any good election with a bad voters register.  

In view of the importance of the voter registration exercise, it is incumbent on all  qualified citizens to endeavor to register since this is their constitutional right.  

All stakeholders in elections should try to play their respective roles in accordance with the rule of the game so
that we can have a successful registration exercise; for after all, this is a collective responsibility of all well-meaning Ghanaians.

BY GABRIEL DEI (Deputy Regional Director)Electoral Commission; E/R