EC to Burn Faulty Ballots as Reprinting Begins for Ahafo and Volta
Serialization blunder forces reprinting as Electoral Commission assures transparency through political party oversight
- Faulty ballot papers discovered for Volta and Ahafo regions due to serialization flaws
- Defective ballots will be shredded and burned under political party supervision
- New ballots are being reprinted to ensure accuracy and maintain electoral integrity
The Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) has announced plans to destroy ballot papers containing errors before their distribution to the Volta and Ahafo Regions.
The decision follows the discovery of discrepancies in the serial numbers on the ballots, prompting the EC to reprint them. The announcement was made during an emergency Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting on Friday, November 15.
To ensure transparency, the EC confirmed in a November 16 statement that political party representatives would oversee the shredding and incineration of the faulty ballots, with a Destruction Certificate issued to validate the process.
“The reprinting of the ballots will be handled by Buck Press and Acts Commercials for the Ahafo and Volta Regions, respectively. As usual, the defective ballot papers will be shredded and burned, with party agents observing the procedure,” the statement said.
The issue arose due to flaws in the automated system for serializing ballots, necessitating a manual intervention. However, the EC found the manual process unreliable for ensuring accurate serialization, leading to the decision to reprint the ballots.
“The manual system was determined to be fallible and could not guarantee precise serialization. Therefore, the Commission opted to reprint the ballots and informed political parties during the emergency IPAC meeting,” the EC clarified.
