The Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) has instructed its officials to resort to offline voter registration if they encounter challenges with the online registration system during the ongoing Limited Voter Registration exercise.
This directive comes in response to reports of network connectivity issues associated with the online registration system, which caused delays in the registration process at certain centers on Tuesday morning.
The EC had previously clarified that the online registration system was designed to promptly identify instances of double registration at the registration point.
Dr Serebour Quaicoe, Director of Electoral Services at the EC, told the Ghana News Agency Tuesday evening that there were “initial hitches” with the system on the first day.
He said the situation would normalise as the exercise progressed.
“We have asked them (officers) to switch offline if they encounter challenges.
“All those registered offline, the system will review their identities and if their names appear on the multiple list they will not vote,” Dr Quaicoe said.
Dr. Quaicoe reported that the registration process proceeded relatively smoothly, with the exception of rain-related disruptions in many regions of the country.
The registration, as mandated by Article 45 of the 1992 Constitution, is currently taking place at the Commission’s 268 District Offices.
Although the registration was initially scheduled to begin at 0800 hours, there were delays in connecting to the EC’s online registration system at some of the centers monitored by the Ghana News Agency. As a result, the registration process commenced as late as 1000 hours in certain centers.
The registration exercise concluded at 1700 hours and will continue until October 2.