The first set of registered voters to cast their ballots in Ghana’s 2024 Presidential and Parliamentary elections are those classified as Special Voters.
The nationwide Special Voting exercise starts today, December 2, 2024; five clear days before the main election is held. Voters on the Special Voting List comprise security personnel, accredited media personnel and staff of the election management body, Electoral Commission (EC).
The Electoral Commission of Ghana explains that “Special voting is the facility provided by law to allow registered voters who will not be present themselves at their polling stations due to the role they play in the elections to vote, before the rest of the electorate vote on the date set for the election.”
The Electoral Commission Chairperson, Jean Mensa, announced on December 1, 2024, that the exercise will take place in 14 out of Ghana’s 16 regions. The Western and Eastern regions were excluded after the EC detected leakages, and subsequently announced a recall and ordered a reprint of ballot papers sent to these regions.
The EC has indicated special voting in these regions will take place on December 5, 2024.
The special election is expected to take place across 328 polling stations with 131,478 voters expected to cast their ballots. This number constitutes 0.007% of the total registered electorate of 18,741,159.
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It is worth noting that Special Voting is only allowed for general elections.
Qualification For Special Voting
- A person must be a registered voter in the constituency to be able to apply to be part of special voting in the constituency; or
- The person should have transferred his/her vote to the constituency; and
- Must be a security official, accredited media personnel or staff of the EMB;
The legal basis for Special Voting and the role of the Returning Officer
The application for Special Voting is captured in REGULATION 23, CI 94
It states among others that: “A voter may apply to the returning officer of the constituency in which the voter is registered to be entered as a special voter, if as a result of election duties the voter will not be able to be present at the polling station where the voter is registered on election day.”
A returning officer shall scrutinise the request by the applicant and when satisfied, shall proceed to:
- Issue the applicant, a certificate that entitles the applicant to vote on a day set for special voters;
- Enter the registration details of the applicant on the special voters’ list;
- Enter the registration details of the applicant on the absent voters’ list of the polling station where the applicant is registered; and
- Inform the applicant, political parties, and other persons of the date and time set aside for special voting.
What happens after Special Voting takes place
Subject to sub-regulation (11) of the relevant law, voting at a polling station for special voters shall be conducted in the same manner as voting on polling day.
The returning officer shall at the end of the special voting:
- Ensure that the ballot boxes are kept in safe custody after the polls have closed;
- Ensure that the ballot boxes are sealed with the seal of the Commission and any candidate who wishes to add their seal; and
- Arrange for the ballot boxes to be opened at the time of the counting of the votes cast on the polling day and the ballot papers shall be counted in the same manner as those counted in the ballot boxes used on the polling day.
By: Gifty Danso
TA/AS/GD
