Of course there are several ways to rig an election but I have put them in a four quadrant grid to cover some of the other variations as well. In the case of Ghana’s forthcoming elections I came up with these: the Tain Effect strategy (TES), flaws in the Biometric exercise, Voter suppression and the Voter maximizer strategy. Certain factors must come into play for it to execute efficiently: It must take place in a constituency you are highly favored to win aka Tain. You intentionally cause a delay in your Tain using ‘Dumsor’ (rolling blackouts) as an excuse- an act of their evil god. Your opponents have already turned in figures and all their polling stations closed. You cause disruptions using Djan’s method of machomen and foot soldiers to dispute your opponents figures.
When things return to normal and the election is on the line you release figures , now bloated, from the several Tains you created, due to ‘Dumsor’ in an avalanche to declare yourself winner. This is what they mean by one-touch victory or their slogan ‘E dey be keke’ which translates as a done deal.
Since data from each polling station is stored on a thumb drive and we are talking of thousands of these, it can easily be falsified knowing it is going to wrong hands. Let me tell you something: they are good at it, honing the skills of doctoring sermons and moreso having the carte blanche from the Electoral Commission (EC) which is made up mostly of party affiliates.
A way out is for the International observers to provide their own thumb drives which are coded before downloading of voters info and decoded when uploading the results from each polling station to the national grid or computer. This method will preserve data integrity.
The ink method where a voter dips a finger should be combined since the stain stays for weeks and can be used to eliminate fraudsters from multiple registration or voting.
Doctored thumb drives already in their possession to alter votes in their favor. Delay on the part of the EC of to release voters Biometric register to the various political parties for cross-checking and verification, less than three weeks from Election Day.
Multiple registration through the Biometric with one person caught who had done it a dozen times.
Tampering with machines to alter vote totals by means of software. Voter Suppression The goal is to prevent as many voters as possible in your opponents stronghold from voting so as to boost your chances of winning. You use uniformed men, machomen and foot soldiers to intimidate physically so they don’t show up for voting or attack the polling places before voting takes place so as to discourage them.
Purging voter rolls because of computer mismatch, underage or relocation to a different constituency dozens of miles away with not enough time to vote. Disinformation about voting procedures to the largely illiterate voters to vote for a candidate not of their choice.
Full Article: 4 Ways To Steal An Election In Ghana | Feature Article 2012-11-19.
