NCCE to Embark On Voter Education

The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) is to embark on a massive voter education drive to reverse the number of rejected ballot during the December 28 run-off.

Mrs. Augustina Akosua Akumanyi, Deputy Chairperson in charge of Finance and Administration, NCCE, said the Commission had officially written to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to release funds for the education drive.  'It is barely 17 days to the time, we are therefore going to launch a massive media education campaign at national, regional, district and community levels so that people do not repeat the same mistakes,' she added.

Speaking to the GNA in an interview in Accra, Mrs. Akumanyi noted that the number of rejected ballots (205436) during the December 7 election was worrying; noting that if those rejected ballots had been added to the results there would have been no need for the run-off.

In 1992, 64,354 votes representing 3.03 per cent were rejected while in 1996 a total 111,108 ballots were rejected, representing 1.53 per cent of 7,256,725 ballots cast.

In election 2000, the number of rejected ballots dropped to 104,214 representing 1.58 per cent   of 6,605,084 ballots cast.  In election 2004, the total rejected ballots amounted to 188,123, representing 2.13 per cent of 8,813,908 ballots cast while in election 2008 the total rejected ballots were 205,438, representing 2.4 per cent of 8,671,272 votes cast.

Commenting on the December 7, 2008 figures, Mrs. Akumanyi attributed it to the way and manner the ballot papers were folded and the confusion over dipping of the small finger into indelible ink before voting.