The Electoral Commission (EC) is expected to capture 50,000 to 70,000 new voters onto the electoral roll in its upcoming mop-up voter registration exercise.
The exercise is scheduled from Thursday, August 1, to Saturday, August 3, 2024.
The three-day exercise aims to allow individuals who recently turned 18 or missed previous registrations to have their names included in the voter register.
Addressing a news conference in Accra, Mr Samuel Tettey, a Deputy Chairman of the EC in-Charge of Operations, indicated that the Commission had designated its 268 District Offices, 26 Public Universities and 41 Prison Centres nationwide for the exercise.
The registration exercise is expected to begin at 7:00 AM and close at 6:00 PM.
According to him, the registration exercise would be done only online, adding that the Commission had engaged Mobile Telecommunication Network (MTN) extensively to ensure stable internet connectivity during the exercise.
The EC, between May 7 to 29, 2024, carried out a Limited Voter Registration Exercise to capture all eligible voters onto the electoral roll ahead of the December 7 elections.
Mr Tettey said at the end of the 23-day exercise, the Commission captured a total of 778,447 voters onto the electoral roll.
The figure, he said, comprised 408,332 Females, representing 52.45 per cent and 370,115 Males, representing 47.55 per cent.
Currently, he said, there were 18, 681,366 provisional registered voters.
Mr Tettey said the mop-up voter registration exercise formed part of measures to ensure an “all-inclusive Voters Register ahead of the 2024 General Election”.
Touching on modalities for the exercise, Mr Tettey said an eligible applicant must present a Ghana Card or the Ghana Passport as proof of eligibility at the designated Registration Centre, adding that in the absence of any of the aforementioned documents, an applicant would require two persons who were already registered voters as guarantors.
He said that was in accordance with Regulation 2 of CI 91 As Amended by CI 126.
“Registered Voters can only guarantee for 10 persons. This means anyone who guaranteed for 10 persons in the last registration exercise does not qualify to guarantee for the other applicants in the Mop-Up exercise,” Mr Tettey cautioned.
Additionally, he said guarantors must ensure that those they wish to guarantee for are only “Ghanaians who are at least 18 years old and meet the other requirements for registration, including being residents or ordinary residents of the electoral area where they wish to register as voters.”
Mr Tettey also explained that political parties were permitted to send their agents to the Registration Centres to observe the exercise.
However, he urged the parties to educate their agents to conduct themselves professionally to ensure an incident-free exercise.
“The Commission has informed the Ghana Police Service about the Mop-Up exercise,” he said, adding that “there would be security presence at the various Registration Centres to ensure a peaceful environment”.
Again, he urged applicants and registration officials to conduct themselves well at the Centres to ensure a smooth exercise.
“In the same manner, we wish to urge parents and guardians not to allow their children who are not yet 18 years old to take part in the Mop-Up Voter Registration Exercise”.
Mr Tettey indicated that the Commission had scheduled the exhibition of the Voters Register from August 20 to 27, 2024. The exercise is set to take place at all polling stations across the country.
“All registered voters are encouraged to go to their polling stations to check that their names are in the voters register or use the shortcode to electronically check their names in the voters register,” he encouraged.