Voter Exhibition Exercise starts with low turnout

Accra: The Electoral Commission's (EC) exhibition of the provisional voter register has begun, with poor turnout at some polling centres in the Ablekuma West District.As of 1000 hours, when the Ghana News Agency (GNA) team got to some of the polling centres, several exhibition officials had validated the details of a few voters, while others were still to do so.Some exhibition officers attributed the development to the introduction of phone verification.Others stated that information regarding the exercise was not widely distributed.The GNA visited some polling centres at the Apostolic Church of Ghana in Dansoman, where 500 people were expected to be verified.However, only one person had been verified as of 1000 hours.Madam Deborah Amuzu, an Exhibition Officer, said the low turnout could be attributed to the fact that people can now verify their details on their phones.She, however, urged people to visit the centre if they detected errors in their biodata to correct them.The GNA also visited E benezer Senior High School, which had three polling stations.Madam Erica Akuamoa Boateng, Exhibition Officer, reported that no one had been to the centre to be verified since she and her colleagues started work at 0700 hours.She said she was not surprised because such activities usually see poor turnouts.The story was the same at three polling centres at the Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Dansoman.As of 1030 hours, only five people had been verified.Mr. Adamu Mohammed, the Exhibition Officer, ascribed the low attendance to insufficient education.He thought that many people were unaware of the commencement of the exercise.The EC announced the commencement of the voter exhibition exercise on Monday, August 21.It is being undertaken at 38,000 polling stations across the country and would last for a week.The exercise would offer voters, particularly those who registered in the just-ended mop-up registration exercise, the opportunity to verify their details and identify their polling stations .Voters who registered and voted in the 2020 General Election would also be able to verify their details in the register ahead of the December 7 polls.Some of the corrections that can be requested are the inclusion of omitted names; objection to names of unqualified voters on the register; removal of names of deceased voters from the register, and replacement of poor quality or damaged Voter ID Cards.Voters who may not be able to visit the exhibition centres could dial *711*51# to verify their details on their phones at a fee of 0.50 pesewas.The exhibition exercise is one of the Commission's major activities ahead of the 2024 General Election.Source: Ghana News Agency