The Electoral Commission (EC) has destroyed defective ballot papers initially intended for the Ahafo and Volta Regions following the discovery of serialization errors.
The destruction exercise was carried out on Thursday at Nsawam Adagyiri under strict supervision by representatives of political parties, the National Intelligence Bureau, National Security, the Ghana Police Service, and the Electoral Commission.
The transfer of the flawed ballots was halted immediately after the defects were identified. On Sunday, November 17, the Commission began accounting for all the ballot papers printed for both regions, which were affected by serial number discrepancies.
Although the EC has dismissed claims that political parties were responsible for detecting the error, stating that the issue was flagged by its internal quality control mechanisms, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) maintains that their representatives identified the problem, prompting the corrective measures.
Electoral Commission set to burn the Ahafo and Volta Region faulty presidential and parliamentary ballot papers pic.twitter.com/sGT2P9gSYs
— Vanessa Edotom Boateng (@VanessaEboateng) November 21, 2024
As part of the process, on Saturday, November 16, a quantity of electoral materials for the Ahafo and Volta Regions was burned. The destroyed materials included excess or scrap ballot papers and plates used for printing the Presidential and Parliamentary ballots for the two regions.
To ensure the integrity of the electoral process, the EC has engaged Buck Press and Acts Commercials to reprint new, error-free ballots. The Commission has reiterated its dedication to preserving the credibility of Ghana’s elections, emphasizing that this commitment outweighs any concerns about cost.
Dr. Bossman Asare, Deputy Chairman of the EC in charge of Corporate Services, clarified the Commission’s stance during an interview with the media.
“The Commission didn’t think so much in terms of the cost as to the quality of the country’s elections,” he stated.
