The Electoral Commission (EC) says no voter was allowed to cast his/her ballot without undergoing biometric verification. It said upon being served with the further and better particulars by the petitioners on 11,916 polling stations where alleged irregularities took place, it examined and analysed its records, adding, “the analysis confirmed that, no voters were allowed to vote without verification at any polling station.” In an amended response filed at the registry of the Supreme Court on its behalf by its solicitors, Lynes, Quashie-Idun and Co., the EC denied claims that voters were allowed to vote without undergoing verification, adding that voting continued on December 8, 2012 at about 400 polling stations where slowness or malfunction of machines was recorded on voting day on December 7, 2012.
In any case, the EC made reference to a Commonwealth Observer Group report on the elections which recommended that, “the Electoral Commission should review the exceptions to the current practice on the use of the biometric verification device to minimise the number of elderly people being refused to vote due to the difficulty in matching the fingerprints.”
According to the EC, the request by petitioners that the number of votes cast at polling stations listed by them (petitioners) should be nullified “is entirely without merit and should be refused.”
Full Article: Ghana Business News » Ghana election petition: All voters used biometric – Electoral Commission.
