The Electoral Commission (EC) has announced that the Western and Eastern Regions will not participate in Monday’s special voting exercise scheduled for December 2, following a ballot paper issue that has led to a recall and reprinting order for the two regions.
For the 2024 general election, there are a total of 328 special voting centres across the country, with 131,478 voters listed for the special voting exercise. However, the EC has confirmed that special voting in the Eastern and Western Regions will be delayed after a leakage was detected in the initial batch of ballots.
EC Chairperson Jean Mensa made the announcement during an emergency news conference on Sunday, December 1. She explained that the decision to recall and reprint the ballot papers came after National Security informed the Commission of an incident in which a defaced ballot paper was inadvertently removed from Checkpoint Printing Limited, the printing house responsible for producing the ballots for these two regions.
The defaced paper, which was supposed to be destroyed, was mistakenly taken out of the printing house, which has been working with the Commission since 1992. To address the issue, the EC has contracted BuckPress and Innolink to handle the reprinting of the ballots.
As a result, the special voting exercise for the Eastern and Western Regions has been postponed until Thursday, December 5, 2024. The general election will take place on Saturday, December 7.
The EC has assured the public that the security features of the reprinted ballots for these two regions will be enhanced to distinguish them from the previously printed ones. The Commission emphasized that the recall is essential to maintain the integrity of the election.
“All parties and contestants in the election have been informed about the situation and have agreed to the recall and reprinting,” the EC stated.
This incident follows a previous reprinting of ballots for the Ahafo and Volta Regions due to errors found in the initial printing. Additionally, the EC has reported some discrepancies in the number of ballot papers dispatched to certain regions and is taking steps to resolve the issue.
