Low Attendance At Voting Centres

Response to the exhibition of the voters register has been slow at the various centres in the New Juaben Municipality in the Eastern Region.

In all the centres visited so far, only a handful of people had trickled in at an average interval of 10 minutes per person. The situation has made the exhibition officers idle.

At the St Dominic Polling Centre at Adweso, out of the 757 people in the register, only 55 had checked their names as of 11 a.m. on Monday.

At the Anglican Primary Centre at Ohemma Park, Betspoom, only 48 people had come to check on their names, and according to the Exhibition Officer, Miss Hilda A Boateng, with the low patronage, it would be difficult for registered voters to check on their names within the seven-day period of the exhibition.

At the St Mary's KG Centre, also at Bettspom one Godfred Austen Boateng was identified to have registered double and the exhibition officers at the two centres where Austen Boateng's name had appeared had sent for him to indicate which of the two centres he would like to vote so that his name would be deleted from one of the registers.

The name of a deceased person was also identified at in the register at the centre.

The situation was not different at the Legion Hall Centre and according to the official, Mr Manfold Emmanuel, only 65 out of the 655 persons who registered had visited the centre to check on their names.

When contacted on the issue, the Eastern Regional Director of the Electoral Commission, Mr Paul Boateng, said although the initial response to the exercise had been very low, the situation would reverse, and that by the end of the seven-day exercise, most of those registered would be able to check on their names.

Reports from Takoradi in the Western Region, also talk of very low patronage of the exhibition of the voters register by would be elecvtorate.

A total of 41 registered voters had gone to check on their names at the Army School Ranch Barracks 'A' polling station when the Daily Graphic went round some of the polling stations.

Seventeen people checked their names on Sunday when the exhibition began, while 24 had gone to check on their names as of 12 noon on Monday.

The polling station has 765 registered voters on the old list of the registered voters and 228 on the new list of the limited registered voters.

At the Army School Ranch Barracks 'B' polling station 36 registered voters had checked on their names, 17 on Sunday, while 19 as of 12 noon on Monday. The polling station has 761 registered voters on the old list and 283 voters on the new list.

The story was the same at the Police Canteen polling station where a total of 24 registered voters had so far checked on their names. Fourteen people checked on their names on Sunday, with 10 people checking theirs on Monday.

The polling station has 616 registered voters on the old list and 200 voters on the new list.

Story by A. Kofoya-Tetteh