Voting at the various polling centres for the Special Voting exercise has commenced nationwide.
Voting commenced at 700 hours in many voting centres visited by the Ghana News Agency Monday morning.
Voting is scheduled to close at 1700 hours.
The exercise was initially scheduled to take off across 328 centres nationwide, but has been rescheduled for voters in the Western and Easterm regions, following a recall of ballots for the two regions.
Consequently, the exercise in the Western and Eastern Regions has been postponed to Thursday, December 5, 2024.
The Special Voting exercise would allow eligible voters involved in election-related duties, including election officials, security personnel, and media practitioners, to cast their ballots early.
Some 131,478 voters, representing 0.007 per cent of the total registered voters (18,741,159), are expected to participate in the Special Voting.
The GNA’s monitoring of the exercise indicates that voting has proceeded smoothly across various centers, with no major incidents reported so far.
Voting commenced at the Ablekuma South Constituency at 7:03 hours, with a total of 465 voters expected to cast their ballot.
As of 750 hours, 40 persons had already cast their ballot.
At the Ablekuma North Constituency, voting commenced at 705 hours, with a total of 428 persons expected to cast their ballot.
Chief superintendent Anita Abrokwa, Divisional Commander, Tesano Police Station, was the first to cast her ballot at the Okaikwei Central Special Voting Centre at about 7:01 hours.
Mr. Patrick Yaw Boamah, New Patriotic Party parliamentary aspirant for Okaikwei Central, on a visit to the polling station commended the security services for their dedication in ensuring a free and fair election.
In Hohoe, voting began smoothly on Monday morning, with 827 voters participating.
Mr. Enoch Danso Agyekum, the Hohoe Municipal Electoral Officer, informed the GNA that all materials for the exercise were received well in advance.
At the Bongo Special Voting Centre in the Bongo constituency, voting started at 0700 hours, and by 0820 hours, 73 voters had already cast their ballots.
A total of 603 voters are expected to participate in the exercise.
As at 0820 hours, 73 voters had already cast their votes. A total of 603 are expected to cast their votes.
The Electoral Commission has confirmed that votes cast during the Special Voting will not be counted on the day of the exercise.
Instead, they will be counted on December 7 at the Constituency Collation Centres and added to the results from the main election.
The Returning Officer at each Constituency Collation Centre will record these results separately on both the Presidential and Parliamentary Election Results Collation Forms, before including them in the final tally from all polling stations.
To ensure security, all ballot boxes will be sealed and stored in a secured room at a Police Station within each constituency.
The EC has also directed that Presiding Officers do not count the ballots cast during the Special Voting on that day.
Ghana’s general elections for President and 276 Members of Parliament will take place on Saturday, December 7, 2024.
GNA
