The Reforms of Ghana’s Voter Registration from 1992 to Date, The Case of Tolon/Kumbungu District

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume III, Issue VII, July 2019 | ISSN 2454–6186

The Reforms of Ghana’s Voter Registration from 1992 to Date, The Case of Tolon/Kumbungu District

Dominic Alimbey Dery (PhD)

Department: Languages and Liberal Studies, Tamale Technical University (Ghana)

Abstract:-The success and failure and the acceptance or rejection of the outcome of any election results, rest by and large on the kind of electoral roll used in the said elections. In Ghana, since the inception of the fourth republic, the issue of maintaining a credible voters’ register has always remained a challenge to the Electoral Commission of Ghana.This paper looks at reforms introduced by the Electoral Commission of Ghana to improve on Voter Registration exercises. The research was a mix of qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. Both purposive sampling and systematic sampling techniques were used. Again, both questionnaire and interviews were used to gather the data needed.The findings made suggest several important conclusions. It was apparent from the findings that, the voters’ register used in the 2008 general elections was bloated withdeceased persons’ names, minors, multiple registrants and non-Ghanaians.This study had established that, the Biometric Voter Register Technology (BVR) had been able to reduce multiple registrants drastically. Over 90 percent of the respondents had the opinion that the BVR technology should be maintained.

Key Words: Reforms, Voters Register

I. INTRODUCTION

The paper focuses on the introduction of technology by Ghana’s Electoral Commission to improve on the Voter Registration. This move became necessary as a result of the numerous problems that previous registration exercises had encountered.
Registration of Voters in Ghana is a constitutional mandate of the Electoral Commission (EC) by the 1992 Constitution. Under chapter seven (7), Article 45 (a) of 1992 constitution mandates the EC to “compile the register of voters and revise it at such period as may be determined by law.
Voter Registration is the process of compiling prospective voters’ particulars to produce an Electoral Roll called the Voters’ Register. For an election to be free, fair, transparent, credible and incontrovertible there must be a Voters’ Register which is complete and acceptable to all stakeholders. This could be possible if the Voter Registration process was free from all challenges.

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