Four polling assistants assigned to each polling station

The Electoral Commission (EC) has assigned four Polling Assistants to each Polling Station to assist the Presiding Officer to process voters on Election Day.

They are Names Reference List Officer – Assistant one; Biometric Verification Officer and Inker –Assistant two; Presidential Ballot Issuer – Assistant three; and Parliamentary Ballot Issuer – Assistant four.

Mr. Kwame Amoah, EC Greater Accra Regional Director told the Ghana News Agency that each Electoral Official has specific assigned duties and responsibilities at the various designated polling stations on Election Day.

He said the Commission through its Election 2020 Guide to Voter manual spelt out the duties and encouraged stakeholders, political parties, candidates, media, and election observers to study and understand roles expected to be played on Election Day by each actor.

Mr. Amoah explained that the first desk at the Polling Station would be occupied by Reference List Officer-Assistant one who would examine the fingers of the voter for traces of electoral stain to ascertain that the person had not already voted.

“If a stain is not found, then the officer will continue to process the voter, but if a stain is found and the voter is not a proxy, he or she will be disallowed to continue the process, and possibly handed over to the security,” he said.

He said the Assistant one will search for the name of the voter in the Name Reference List with the help of the Voter’s Identification Card; “if the voter’s name is not found in the list, the officer will search through other lists available at the desk and if found in any of the lists other than the Names Reference List (NRL), the officer will direct the voter to see the Presiding Officer for assistance.

“If the voter’s name is on the NRL, the officer will communicate to the Verification Officer Assistant two to the page number and column in the main voters register, where the voter’s details could be found and the voter ID will be given back to the voter and asked to move to the next desk”.

He said the Assistant Officer one will make a tick beside the name of the voter in the Names Reference List as having been processed.

Mr. Amoah said at the Biometric Verification Officer and Inker Assistant two (VO) will flip directly to the page number and locate the voter using the name on the ID card to check details on the register against the ID card and in addition will check for resemblance of the photograph in the register with the face of the voter.

“If the VO was convinced he or she will use the Biometric Verification Device (BVD) to scan the Quick Response code (QR) of the voter in the register, the voter is then requested to put a finger on the fingerprint scanner of the device.

“The process will be repeated for all the fingers if any of them fails to be verified on the first attempt. If the verification device identify the fingers of the voter, the device will give indication to that effect but if there is no match the BVD will equally give an indication.

“The BVD upon verification, the VO will then draw vertical lines across the voters QR code and also destroy three of the QR code Serial Number to indicate that the voter had been verified”.

He explained that the VO will then apply indelible ink to the left little finger of the voter and direct him or her to the Presidential Election Ballot Desk.

At the Presidential Ballot Issuer desk, the voter will be issued with only the Presidential Ballot Paper after it has been validated with EC stamp at the back of the ballot paper.

The Voter will then be shown how to properly fold the ballot paper after he or she has thumb printed.

Mr Amoah explained that the voter will then be directed to the voting screen to thumb print after which he or she puts the ballot paper into the Presidential Ballot Box.

At the final desk, the Parliamentary Ballot Issuer will issue only the Parliamentary Ballot paper to the voter; validate it, show how to properly fold it after thumb printing.

The voter will then be directed to the voting screen to thumb print after which he or she puts the ballot paper into the Parliamentary Ballot Box.