The Electoral Commission (EC) recently accepted applications for special voting for qualifying institutions and people, with a date of Monday, December 2, 2024.
On July 1, it will end applications for qualified individuals with a valid reason to be given special voting privileges. The special voting will not be granted automatically; qualified folks must request for it.
It would take place in all 276 constituencies across the country, with each voter expected to vote in the constituency shown on their Voter ID card.
Special voting
The special voting exercise is guaranteed by Regulation 3(1) of Constitutional Instrument (CI) 127, which states that a voter may apply to the returning officer of the constituency in which the voter is registered to be entered as a special voter if the voter is unable to attend the polling station where the voter registered due to election duties on election day.
Personnel from the military, police, Immigration Service, Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Prisons Service, Fire Service, polling officers, and permanent personnel of the EC and the media are eligible to vote.
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Double-voting
Applicants seeking special voting privileges must be registered voters in the constituencies where they want to vote. Those who are granted special voting privileges will have their names deleted from the normal voting lists for the December 7 elections.
“The intention is to prevent double-voting,” the EC Chairperson, Jean Mensa, said, emphasising that the commission had put in place stringent measures to prevent the public from undermining the special voting process.
According to Mrs Mensa, the district police headquarters in each constituency have been designated as special voting locations. She stated that when the number of voters assigned to a special voting centre exceeds the EC’s 750 threshold, “another voting centre is designated as a special voting centre to facilitate the voting process within the same centre.”
She stated that in order to guarantee a smooth application and voting procedure for all Special Voting applicants, they should apply directly to the Returning Officer of the constituency in which they are registered voters.
Application Process
Mrs Mensa stated that anyone requesting for special voting must produce a document from their institutions stating that they are employees of the aforementioned institution. “Members of institutions who wish to apply as a group may provide a list of their officials to the Returning Officer to act as a register to expedite the procedure.
The list must include each applicant’s name, voter ID number, and polling station code as they appear on the voter ID card. These details will allow the Returning Officer to confirm if the applicant is a registered voter in the constituency.
The EC Chairperson emphasized, “Note that all applicants must apply in person to the Returning Officer.” She also suggested that applicants who misplaced their voter ID cards replace them during the exercise so that they may update their applications with the accurate information.
