The Chairperson of Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana, Mrs Jean Adukwei Mensa, has called on electoral management bodies on the continent to collaborate in order to ensure reduction in rejected ballots at the polls.
She said the number of rejected ballots during elections on the continent continued to be a major challenge that required some solutions, however, this could only be achieved when collaboration and concerted efforts are among the various managers.
Speaking at the opening of the ninth annual continental forum for electoral management bodies in Africa in Accra yesterday, she stressed that the time had come for the continent to consider the use of technology in addressing some of its electoral challenges, especially invalid and rejected ballot.
The two-day forum was on the theme: ‘All Votes Count: Addressing the problem of invalid or rejected ballots in Africa’ and was attended by more than 80 participants from across the continent.
It was being organised by the Association of African Election Authorities in collaboration with the Electoral Commission of Ghana.
Mrs Mensa said a simplified electronic voting systems using the direct recording device where a voter would have to select a picture or logo of their preferred candidate to vote for is worth exploring.
She indicated that her outfit took the initiative to access and determine the cause of rejected ballots in the 2020 elections and the results showed that while some were genuine mistakes from voters others were from the EC officials who were overly cautious.
To address this, she stated that public education campaigns in the case of Ghana were intensified to sensitise the public on the need to reduce rejected and invalid ballots.
Mrs Mensa, who doubles as the President of the Executive Committee of AAEA, mentioned that the resultant effect was that there was some reduction of .35per cent of rejected ballots from the previous results of 2.38 per cent in 2024.
On her part, the Director, Governance and Conflict Prevention at the African Union (AU), Ms Patience Chinadza, added that the Commission took the decision to focus on addressing the problem of invalid and rejected ballots in African elections due to the high numbers it continued to record over every election cycle.
“This is based on the fact that the African Union is of the view that the high number of invalid or rejected ballots present a significant challenge to electoral integrity and electoral outcomes across the continent,” she emphasised.
Ms Chinadza said the votes which failed to count due to improper marking or other assigned reasons could effectively or potentially alter election outcomes, especially in closely contested races.
She also underlined that in Liberia’s 2023 elections, for example, invalid votes reached 5.89 per cent, far exceeding the global average of 4.3 per cent while in Kenya in the 2022 presidential elections, the total of invalid or rejected ballots to date 118,614, representing 0.79 per cent of the total valid votes.
Similarly, in South Africa in 2024 elections, the invalid votes were about 218,437, constituting 1.31 per cent of the total votes cast and most recently in Ghana, the votes accounted for about 1 per cent of the total votes cast.
“This issue is not limited to only the above mentioned countries, but it’s becoming a challenge that we must face across the continent,” she said.
The former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana, Sophia Akuffo, who was also the special guest at the event, said the theme for this year’s forum, All Votes Count, addressing the problem of invalid or rejected ballots in Africa, could not be overemphasised since it was very crucial and highly critical.
She said it was important to note that the electoral process was a central principle of democracy and cannot be treated as an event.
Ms Akuffo, who is also a member of the council of state, indicated that election was the watershed of processes that eventually also impacts on the security and stability of nations, adding that “And so, every citizen of any democratic nation should not only have the right and the means and the expectation to vote, but should also be assured that their vote will be valid and it will be accepted.”
BY CLIFF EKUFUL
