EC clarifies voters' register clean-up procedure

The Electoral Commission has clarified the process of de-duplication of doubly registered names on the register of voters after the 2014 limited registration exercise.

The EC said the clarification has become necessary following calls by political parties for it to publish the list of multiple registrations.

The electoral body, in a statement, said the process of removing multiple registrations entails matching of fingerprints by Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), which detects and brings out multiple registrations; as well as the examination of facial and personal data of all applicants with multiple registrations by officers of the Commission.

The EC said following the conclusion of adjudication, names approved are either moved from the exceptions list and added to the register, or deleted.

Below is the full statement:

PRESS STATEMENT….. REMOVAL OF CASES OF MULTIPLE REGISTRATIONS FROM THE VOTERS’ REGISTER

Following calls by political parties for the publication of the list of multiple registrations, the Commission wishes to clarify the process of de-duplication after the 2014 limited registration of voters.

The following numbers of voters were registered and cases of multiple registrations per region were recorded;

The Commission wishes to stress that it will continue to use the established process of de-duplication to remove multiple names towards ensuring a cleaner register ahead of elections 2016.

The adjudication process entails:

Matching of fingerprints by AFIS (Automatic Fingerprint Identification System), a software which detects and brings out multiple registrations, examination of facial and personal data of all applicants with multiple registrations by officers of the Commission, confirmation or rejection of each case and the decision thereon by adjudication supervisors of the Commission, printing out of adjudication reports, Review of reports by the Adjudication Review Committee made up of Head Office Directors of the Commission, selected senior staff of the head office, political party representatives and representatives of selected Civil Society Organisations, to determine all cases of suspected multiple entries, and submission of adjudication review committee report to the Chair of the Commission for authentication and approval.

Following the conclusion of adjudication, names approved are either moved from the Exceptions List and added to the register, or deleted.

The Commission wishes to state that it has no plan to remove names of suspected cases of multiple entries from only one region. We wish to assure the nation that wherever multiple registrations are detected, due process as outlined above and agreed with stakeholders would be applied.

SIGNED:

C. OWUSU-PARRY

ACTING DIRECTOR, PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Source: Ghana/ClassFMonline.com/91.3fm