Mr. Eric Otchere, the Returning Officer for the Odododiodoo constituency, has revealed that those who submitted their names for the Special Voting Exercise currently underway in 14 regions but refused to vote will have no other opportunity to vote on December 7.
He explained in an interview with Rainbowradioonline.com that anyone who submitted their name for special voting must make an effort to vote in the exercise.
He was speaking with Rashid Obodai Provencal, the online news editor, to assure constituents that the process had been smooth and that the December 7 polls would be equally smooth.
Mr. Octhere indicated that they have not witnessed any incident to mar the ongoing process, and it was his expectation that it will be the same throughout.
He noted that the votes for the special voting would be kept in the police armoury and only counted after the December 7 general elections.
He disclosed that 530 persons are on the special voters list, but only one person came and could not find his name on the list, and from the information gathered, he (the officer) submitted his name to his senior officials, but he failed to follow up.
The returning officer went on to state that ’if you appear on the Special Voters List and you refuse to vote during the exercise, you cannot vote in the elections on December 7. The special voting exercise is to allow persons assigned special duties on election to vote ahead of the main elections. So if you refuse to vote during the special voting exercise, you forfeit the opportunity to vote and cannot go back to your original polling station to vote”.
He added that the constituency’s EC is prepared for the main elections, which will be held in 252 polling stations.
”We are fully prepared for the December 7 general elections. We will conduct elections in 252 polling stations, and as EC, we want to put measures in place. We have received our presidential and parliamentary ballot papers. We’ve also received our election materials, including the BVDs. So we’re prepared and only working for December 7th.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
