Augustina Akumaning The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) says the December 7 general election will record an unprecedented low incidence of spoilt ballots.According to the Deputy Chairperson of NCCE, Augustina Akumaning, the Commission has intensified its nationwide education on proper voting to help the people to become conversant with the voting procedure.She was speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme Thursday.The incidence of spoilt ballots in Ghana’s electoral system cast a slur on the work of the NCCE which is mandated to educate voters on the right ways to exercise their franchise.This has resulted in political parties accusing the staff of the Electoral Commission (EC) of deliberately spoiling ballots in its strongholds.The political parties alleged that some compromised staff of the EC deliberately dipped their hands in the indelible ink and touched cast ballots during collation period and thereby rendered them null and void to favour one candidate.But Augustina Akumaning on Ekosii Sen said considering the massive voter education nationwide, the incident of spoilt ballot will be minimal.She said the Commission has organized seminars, durbars and fora to demonstrate to the public the correct procedure of voting and also to collate views and other relevant information that could help reduce the incidence of spoilt ballots.The Deputy Chairperson of NCCE noted that similar programmes were held in all 10 regions across the country in the local dialects to enable the people understand the importance of their civic rights.Mrs. Akumaning urged voters to return spoilt ballot papers to the presiding officer of the EC for a new one because according to her, as soon as the spoilt paper enters the ballot box, it would be counted as rejected ballot paper.She cautioned voters especially the youth who intend to engage in double- voting to have a change of mind, since the biometric machine will expose them and make them liable for prosecution.The NCCE Director who is also in charge of operations called on political parties to ensure all their supporters vote to give them one touch victory to either of them.Augustina Akumaning also charged Ghanaians to vote peacefully to ensure that democracy in the country is sustained
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