The Electoral Commission has said said it has introduced a ‘liveliness check’ feature in the verification process ahead of the December 7, elections.
The ‘liveliness check’ is a feature designed by the Commission to ensure that the biometric data being captured is from a live, present human being and not from a spoofed source, such as a photograph.
The introduction of the ‘liveliness check’ comes after the Commission received reports from the Northern regional directorate regarding transfers of votes from two polling stations in Tamale South and one polling station in the Sagnerigu Constituency.
In a statement released on Monday, September 2, 2024 after a Press Conference with the media, the Commission stated that per the outcome of the investigations regarding the incident recorded at the Sagnerigu and Tamale South constituencies, the voters involved have denied their participation in the transfer exercise but alluded that their ID Cards were allegedly collected by one Haruna Muniru.
The Electoral Commission noted that, the incident was able to take place due to the absence of a ‘liveliness check’, thus, its introduction in order to prevent similar incidents from happening.
“The ‘liveliness check’ has since been built into the system to prevent any such future occurrence,” the commission stated.
The Electoral commission emphasised its position on ensuring a transparent and credible voters’ register ahead of the December 7 polls, adding that, allegations that the Commission is intentionally bloating the register should be discarded.
“It is also absolutely untrue that the Commission has added names to the Voters Register in a bid to rig the elections for a particular party. Those allegations are without merit and should be disregarded by the Public. The EC has no intention of bloating the register to give any political party advantage over the other. As explained earlier, the cumulative transfer data for 2020, 2023 and 2024 were inadvertently summed up in the registers provided to the Political Parties. This has been corrected and the revised register will be provided after all corrections have been made. The revised transfer list will be shared with the parties.”
“As a Commission we continue to demonstrate and reflect the values of transparency, integrity and fairness in all our operations. We are fully mindful that the Voters Register is the bedrock and foundation of an Election. We are well aware that a credible Voters Register is sine qua non for a transparent, peaceful and fair election. The Commission is committed to conducting and delivering free, fair, transparent, peaceful, credible, and inclusive Elections in December 2024. We entreat the General Public to support the Commission for successful General Elections in 2024,” the Commission reiterated.
