Machine operators to blame for wrong date on cards – EC

The Electoral Commission has blamed the wrong date on some of the newly issued voter ID cards on operators manning the machines used in capturing the data.

Photos of ID cards with wrong dates in the ongoing voters’ registration exercise went viral on social media on day one of the exercise on Thursday.

The dates on the ID cards suggested that the persons registered for the card on April 27 instead of April 28, 2016 when the registration started.

But a statement from the EC, signed by its Deputy Director of Operations, Amadu Sulley said the anomalies have been rectified.

He explained that their investigation shows that the error occurred at the Boko R/C Primary station in the Atwima-Kwanwoma District and the Methodist Park Asuoyeboa-Kwadaso centres in the Ashanti Region.

“The irregularities, which were due to operators’ errors, were detected and quickly rectified. The errors affected 13 and 18 applicants in the respective registration centres.”

The EC further assured the affected persons that “the errors will be corrected when the data is exported to the database and new cards will be issued to them.”

“The Commission further wishes to thank the people in the affected areas for their cooperation and understanding, which ensured that the exercise continued smoothly after the detection and rectification of the errors,” the statement added.

Below is the full statement:

WRONG REGISTRATION DATES PRINTED ON SOME VOTER ID CARDS AT THE START OF REGISTRATION ON THURSDAY,

28TH APRIL, 2016

It has come to the notice of the Commission that, at the start of the limited voter registration yesterday, the date 27/04/2016 instead of 28/04/2016, which is the first day of registration, appeared on some of the voter ID cards issued to applicants. The error occurred in only two out of the 3,500 registration centres that are in operation nationwide.

It occurred at the Boko R/C Primary (F110101) in the Atwima-Kwanwoma District and the Methodist Park (F130702A) Asouyeboa – Kwadaso registration centres. The irregularities, which were due to operators’ errors, were detected and quickly rectified. The errors affected 13 and 18 applicants in the respective registration centres.

The Commission wishes to assure the affected people that the errors will be corrected when the data is exported to the database and new cards will be issued to them.

The Commission further wishes to thank the people in the affected areas for their cooperation and understanding, which ensured that the exercise continued smoothly after the detection and rectification of the errors.

Signed

AMADU SULLEY

DEPUTY CHAIRMAN (OPERATIONS)

#News #Headlinesnews #Localnews #Latestinghana