{"id":62328,"date":"2023-12-15T16:32:13","date_gmt":"2023-12-15T16:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/?p=62328"},"modified":"2023-12-15T14:42:57","modified_gmt":"2023-12-15T14:42:57","slug":"70-of-voting-centres-were-empty-by-1pm-in-2020-elections-ec-justifies-move-to-close-polls-at-3pm-in-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/70-of-voting-centres-were-empty-by-1pm-in-2020-elections-ec-justifies-move-to-close-polls-at-3pm-in-2024","title":{"rendered":"70% of voting centres were empty by 1PM in 2020 elections \u2013 EC justifies move to close polls at 3PM in 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Ghana. <\/strong><\/span>The Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana has proposed to close voting at 3:00pm in the 2024 general elections from the usual 5:00pm.<\/b><\/p>\n

The Chairperson of the Commission, Mrs Jean Adukwei Mensa indicated that this would allow electoral officers to collate the votes in broad daylight to ensure transparency and orderliness.<\/p>\n

Speaking during an inter-party dialogue and stock-taking conference organized by the National Peace Council in Accra on Thursday, December 14, she intimated that the proposal stems from the experience in the 2020 elections where about 70 percent of voting centres were empty by 1:00pm.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2020, 70 percent of our polling centres had a voter threshold of 500 and below. This time we intend to ensure that all our polling station centers have a threshold of 500 voters and below. In the same vein, we will increase the number of our polling stations nationwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that this will go a long way to reduce the long queues that characterize our elections and allow for a smooth, seamless, hustle-free voting process. In 2020, it took voters not more than five minutes to cast their votes due to the introduction of this policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on our 2020 experience and also feedback from several observer groups we propose to close the polls at 3:00pm.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur experience in 2020 reveals that by 1:00pm, 70 percent of our polling stations were empty of voters as most voters had cast their votes. This made it possible because the threshold of most polling centers was reduced to 500 voters per voting center.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was coupled with the robust verification devices that were deployed to the polling stations. We are convinced that by closing the polls at 3:00pm, we will be able to count and collate in broad daylight and this will promote the needed transparency and orderliness that we so desire,\u201d Mrs. Mensa said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Ghana<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Ghana. The Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana has proposed to close voting at 3:00pm in the 2024 general elections from the usual 5:00pm. The Chairperson of the Commission, Mrs Jean Adukwei Mensa indicated that this would allow electoral officers to collate the votes in broad daylight to ensure transparency and orderliness. Speaking during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":62327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[5092,5096,429],"class_list":["post-62328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-ghana","tag-ghana"],"yoast_head":"\n70% of voting centres were empty by 1PM in 2020 elections \u2013 EC justifies move to close polls at 3PM in 2024 - Ghana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana has proposed to close voting at 3:00pm in the 2024 general elections from the ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/70-of-voting-centres-were-empty-by-1pm-in-2020-elections-ec-justifies-move-to-close-polls-at-3pm-in-2024\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"70% of voting centres were empty by 1PM in 2020 elections \u2013 EC justifies move to close polls at 3PM in 2024\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana has proposed to close voting at 3:00pm in the 2024 general elections from the ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/70-of-voting-centres-were-empty-by-1pm-in-2020-elections-ec-justifies-move-to-close-polls-at-3pm-in-2024\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ghana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-15T16:32:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2023\/12\/sm_1702638655.577816.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/70-of-voting-centres-were-empty-by-1pm-in-2020-elections-ec-justifies-move-to-close-polls-at-3pm-in-2024#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/70-of-voting-centres-were-empty-by-1pm-in-2020-elections-ec-justifies-move-to-close-polls-at-3pm-in-2024\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"70% of voting centres were empty by 1PM in 2020 elections \u2013 EC justifies move to close polls at 3PM in 2024\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-15T16:32:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/70-of-voting-centres-were-empty-by-1pm-in-2020-elections-ec-justifies-move-to-close-polls-at-3pm-in-2024\"},\"wordCount\":325,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/70-of-voting-centres-were-empty-by-1pm-in-2020-elections-ec-justifies-move-to-close-polls-at-3pm-in-2024#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2023\/12\/sm_1702638655.577816.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Ghana\",\"ghana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/70-of-voting-centres-were-empty-by-1pm-in-2020-elections-ec-justifies-move-to-close-polls-at-3pm-in-2024#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/70-of-voting-centres-were-empty-by-1pm-in-2020-elections-ec-justifies-move-to-close-polls-at-3pm-in-2024\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/70-of-voting-centres-were-empty-by-1pm-in-2020-elections-ec-justifies-move-to-close-polls-at-3pm-in-2024\",\"name\":\"70% of voting centres were empty by 1PM in 2020 elections \u2013 EC justifies move to close polls at 3PM in 2024 - 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