Ballot papers go out today

Front page, November 25/2008

Story: Charles Benoni Okine

THE Electoral Commission (EC) will begin the distribution of ballot papers to the various regions from today in readiness for the December 7 presidential and parliamentary polls.
The distribution will begin with the three northern regions, which are Upper West, Upper East and Northern, and continue to the Brong Ahafo Region and then the Ashanti Region and down to the south.
The move, according to the Director of Elections at the EC, Mr Albert Arhin, formed part of measures to ensure that every corner of the country accessed the papers and other polling materials and logistics on polling day and on time.
He told the Daily Graphic that the papers would be distributed according to the number of registered voters per region, adding that “they will be handed over to the police for safekeeping and released on election day to the various polling centres”.
Voting is expected to begin at 7.00 a.m. on December 7 in all the 22,000 designated polling stations in the 230 constituencies across the country.
Each of the polling stations will have a unique stamp to authenticate the ballots to ensure easy identification.
Mr Arhin said the materials with the police would be heavily guarded to ensure that nobody tampered with them.
He said the EC was on schedule to ensure another successful election and noted that all the other election materials, including logistics, which would be needed on the polling day had already been dispatched.
Mr Arhin said it was the duty of the electoral officers in the regions to ensure that the materials were up to the requests they made.