Educate Ghanaians on E-voting-Dan Lartey

Sat December 18, 2009

GHANAIANS must adequately be educated on the principles and functions of electronic voting if the country decides to use it for the 2012 Election, the Leader and Founder of the Great Consolidated People’s Party (GCPP), Mr Dan Lartey, has advocated.
Mr Lartey, who had returned from a trip abroad, said as much as his party was in support of such an innovation, there was a need for care to be taken so as to avoid any individual or group of persons to take undue advantage of such a move.
The veteran politician, who was reacting to media reports of the need for the country to use biometric system of voting in future elections, observed that the operations of electronic voting, although a modern system, could not be said to be foolproof.
To some politicians, biometric system of voter's registration is a key mechanism against multiple voting and impersonation in Ghana's electoral system.
In a statement made available to the Daily Graphic last Wednesday, Mr Lartey explained that the operations and workings of electric voting system should not be taken on trust, adding that the functions and the principles upon which such an equipment was designed, must be made known so that the nation fully understood its workings before it was introduced.
He pointed out that no matter what system was used for elections, some political parties, desirous to cheat or rig and win elections, could employ various tricks, including importation of people from other regions to register in another region for the benefit of a particular candidate or a political party.
“There are also some people who indulge in double and even triple registration in several constituencies in the same region,” he stated.
Mr Lartey said with these in mind, the Electoral Commission (EC) should be in a better position to recommend some peculiar specifications for the manufacturer to consider and incorporate if the country decided to go that way, adding that whatever equipment Ghana acquired for the programme should be capable of detecting multiple registration within districts or regions and also between regions.
He also called for a vigorous and extensive training of EC officials in whose hands the equipment would be entrusted and pointed out that the Commission must have permanent staff at every polling station for continuous registration.
Mr Lartey said to ensure voters understanding of the proposed system, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) should be adequately resourced to embark on nationwide education among the citizenry.
He pointed out that if Ghana was to ensure the integrity of the electoral system which could stand the test of time by pre-empting many of the troubles that had derailed many democracies on the African continent, then the country would have to move beyond the present system where there existed many challenges.
He identified multiple registration by some voters as one of the major challenges that had faced the country’s electoral system over the years, and appealed to the EC to do all it could to stop such practice.