EC to create more polling stations to reduce long queues in 2024 elections

The Electoral Commission (EC) has hinted at processes being made to create more polling stations ahead of the 2024 elections.

The EC, according to its intentions, wants to reduce the number of voters per polling station to 500.

Speaking at an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) forum in Accra, the chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa, says the creation of more polling stations will reduce congestion at voting centers.

The Electoral Commission (EC) also hinted at shifting the closing time of voting from 5:00 pm to 3:00 pm during the upcoming 2024 general elections.

“In 2020, 70 percent of our polling centres had a voter threshold of 500 and below. This time we intend to ensure that all our polling station centers have a threshold of 500 voters and below. In the same vein, we will increase the number of our polling stations nationwide.

“We believe that this will go a long way to reduce the long queues that characterize our elections and allow for a smooth, seamless, hassle-free voting process. In 2020, it took voters not more than five minutes to cast their votes due to the introduction of this policy. Based on our 2020 experience and also feedback from several observer groups, we propose to close the polls at 3:00 pm.”

The EC Chairperson, Jean Mensa, emphasized that this adjustment aims to facilitate the transparent and orderly collation of votes by electoral officers in broad daylight.

Mrs. Mensa highlighted that the proposal is grounded in the lessons learned from the 2020 elections, where approximately 70 percent of voting centres witnessed minimal activity by 1:00 pm.

“If you compare the turnout in 2016 to 2020, in spite of the hassle-free process in 2016 and the lack of long queues and lines and so on, we had a voter turnout of 79 percent plus, compared to 67 percent in 2020,” Mrs. Mensa added.