Special Voting Exercise Underway Nationwide.

Accra: Voting at the various polling centres for the Special Voting exercise has commenced nationwide. Voting began at 700 hours in numerous voting centers visited by Ghana News Agency on Monday morning, and it is scheduled to close at 1700 hours.According to Ghana News Agency, the exercise was initially set to take place across 328 centers nationwide. However, it has been rescheduled for voters in the Western and Eastern regions due to a recall of ballots for these two regions. The Special Voting in these regions has been postponed to Thursday, December 5, 2024.The Special Voting exercise is designed to allow eligible voters involved in election-related duties, such as election officials, security personnel, and media practitioners, to cast their ballots early. Approximately 131,478 voters, representing 0.007% of the total registered voters (18,741,159), are expected to participate in this exercise.The Ghana News Agency's monitoring of the exercise indicates that voting has proceeded smoothly across va rious centers, with no major incidents reported so far. In the Ablekuma South Constituency, voting commenced at 7:03 hours, with 465 voters expected to cast their ballot. By 7:50 hours, 40 individuals had already voted.In the Ablekuma North Constituency, voting started at 7:05 hours, with a total of 428 persons expected to vote. Chief Superintendent Anita Abrokwa, Divisional Commander at Tesano Police Station, was the first to cast her ballot at the Okaikwei Central Special Voting Centre at about 7:01 hours. Mr. Patrick Yaw Boamah, New Patriotic Party parliamentary aspirant for Okaikwei Central, commended the security services for ensuring a free and fair election during his visit to the polling station.In Hohoe, voting began smoothly on Monday morning with 827 voters participating. Mr. Enoch Danso Agyekum, the Hohoe Municipal Electoral Officer, informed that all materials for the exercise were received well in advance. At the Bongo Special Voting Centre in the Bongo constituency, voting started at 0700 h ours, and by 0820 hours, 73 voters had already cast their ballots out of the 603 expected.The Electoral Commission has confirmed that the votes cast during the Special Voting will not be counted on the day of the exercise. Instead, they will be counted on December 7 at the Constituency Collation Centres and added to the results from the main election. The Returning Officer at each Constituency Collation Centre will record these results separately on both the Presidential and Parliamentary Election Results Collation Forms before including them in the final tally from all polling stations.To ensure security, all ballot boxes will be sealed and stored in a secured room at a Police Station within each constituency. The EC has also directed that Presiding Officers do not count the ballots cast during the Special Voting on that day.Ghana's general elections for President and 276 Members of Parliament are scheduled for Saturday, December 7, 2024.