Special Voting Exercise: Voting Progresses Smoothly Nationwide.

Accra: Voting at the various centres for the Special Voting exercise is progressing smoothly. Voting commenced at 0700 hours in many voting centres visited by the Ghana News Agency Monday morning. As of 1130 hours, many voters had cast their ballot. Voting is scheduled to close at 1700 hours.According to Ghana News Agency, parliamentary aspirants of the various political parties are touring the various centres to observe the process. The exercise was initially scheduled to take off across 328 centres nationwide, but voting has been rescheduled for voters in the Western and Eastern regions, following a recall of ballots for the two regions. Consequently, the exercise in the Western and Eastern Regions has been postponed to Thursday, December 5, 2024.The Special Voting exercise allows eligible voters involved in election-related duties, including election officials, security personnel, and media practitioners, to cast their ballots early. Some 131,478 voters, representing 0.007 per cent of the total registe red voters (18,741,159), are expected to participate in the Special Voting.Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission has urged voters to dismiss reports that positions on the ballot paper have been changed in the ongoing nationwide Special Voting exercise. The Commission in a statement urged the public to 'ignore all fake stories' on the contrary.Following the demise of Madam Akua Donkor, the presidential aspirant for the Ghana Freedom Party (GFP), the EC took the decision that all votes cast for her would be counted as rejected ballots. The Commission decided that the name, image and party logo of Madam Akua Donkor would be maintained on the ballot paper regardless.The EC has confirmed that 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 t he 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 will take place on Saturday, December 7, 2024.