Jonathan Gador, President of Eagles Forum, has expressed concern that despite the smooth voter registration process, it is alarming that young people face unnecessary stress and hurdles every four years to register in order to exercise their fundamental right to vote.
He indicated that he hopes for a future where voter registration becomes more accessible, allowing young people to easily obtain their voter ID cards at their local District Assembly or Electoral Center as soon as they turn eighteen, without any difficulties or obstacles.
“I think that treating our young people like this is not good. It is like we don’t respect their rights and this treatment must stop somewhere. I’m hopeful that this is the last time young people will have to queue throughout the night [or] travel this far just to pick an ID card to vote. We must deal with that”.
Jonathan Gador
Furthermore, Jonathan criticized the EC’s uneven distribution of BVRs across regions, pointing out that the Ashanti region’s 47 constituencies received a disproportionate share of resources compared to Greater Accra’s 34, despite both areas having similarly high voter populations, resulting in an unfair allocation of BVRs.
As such, He called on the EC to prioritize voter population numbers in each region during future registration exercises, ensuring a fair and balanced distribution of BVR machines, and guaranteeing equal access to registration opportunities for all regions.
Moreover, he warned the EC to shape up and take action, stating that the repeated mistakes in uploading registration figures are unacceptable and have reached a tipping point.
“When you are dealing with numbers, you must be accurate because elections are about numbers” – Jonathan Gador
More so, Mr. Gador noted that, according to the Ghana Statistical Service, approximately 2.9 million Ghanaians are eligible to register, making the actual turnout for the registration alarmingly low and a cause for concern.
Accordingly, he attributed the low turnout to the EC’s failure to create a conducive environment or choose an optimal time, as the registration coincided with SHS students’ school schedules and SHS 3 students’ exams, limiting their participation.
Fee For Replacing Lost Voter IDs, Reasonable
Commenting on the replacement of missing or lost voter IDs, Jonathan Gador opined that charging a small fee for replacing lost or missing voter IDs is reasonable, as it encourages individuals to handle their cards responsibly and discourages carelessness.
Additionally, he praised the EC’s decision to provide free replacement voter ID cards to the Akosombo flood victims in the Volta Region as a commendable and welcome gesture.
“But for any other person, paying GHC 10.00 as a token for misplacing your card or being irresponsible, I think it’s not a very bad idea. Otherwise, people will keep misplacing their cards and keep going for new ones. I am not sure it takes GHC 10.00 to produce the card [so] it is fair enough”.
Jonathan Gador
Meanwhile, David Kumi Addo, Executive Director of Free and Fair Elections, Ghana, criticized the EC’s decision to restrict registration to just 1070 centers, out of over 30,000 polling stations, saying it gives the impression that the EC is commercializing Ghana’s election, democracy, and electoral integrity.
“When it comes to these limited registration centers, it means that you are telling people to now use transport in accessing the registration centers. The system is very difficult [and] we are having economic challenges. A lot of the youth are unemployed so it becomes very challenging”.
David Kumi Addo
Meanwhile, the EC commenced the transfer of votes, application for Proxy voting, and replacement of lost or damaged voter ID cards today, 30th May 2024.
The Transfers and Proxy applications will end on 14th June 2024, as people who just registered are not eligible to transfer their votes or apply for proxy according to CI 91.
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