On the voting day, a registered voter is expected to follow some basic rules. 

1. Go to the polling station
2. Check your name in the register
3. Put your finger on the verification device
4. Indellible ink is put on your finger
5. You are given a stamped ballot paper.
6. Check to see that the ballot paper has been stamped.
7. Go to the screen and vote.
8. Fold the paper as has been taught by the polling agent and drop the ballot in the box provided.
9. Go for the second ballot paper.
10. Make sure that it has also been stamped.
11. Vote, fold and put in the box and leave the polling station

Rejected ballots

Rejected ballots are those that have entered the ballot box but cannot be used for any candidate for the following reasons:

1. If the ballot paper is not validated, that is, it has not been stamped.  The polling agents are supposed to remind voters to check for the stamp.  The party agents at the polling stations are also supposed to ensure that each ballot paper has been stamped. The voter also has the responsibility to ensure that the ballot paper has been stamped. Thus, any ballot paper that enters the ballot box but has not been stamped is termed, rejected. The polling agent is also not supposed to validate the sheets and put them down.  The validation must take place when the voter is standing in front of him. If validated papers are not used, polling agents can thumb-print them and inflate the number of voters.
2. If there is no thumb-print on the paper, the ballot paper is rejected.
3. If the thumb-printing is such that it crosses into another box, thus making it unclear which candidate to give the ballot to, the paper is rejected.
4. If thumb-printing was done for more than one candidate.
5. If there is any writing on the paper.

Spoilt ballots

Spoilt ballots occur if in the process of tearing the ballot paper at the seam, the officer tears the paper such that the ballot paper itself gets torn. The officer must put it aside in an envelope and write ‘spoilt ballot’ on it. No ballot paper is thrown away because all ballot papers must be accounted for.

If the paper falls in mud or is rendered wet by rain and unusable, it must be treated as a spoilt ballot paper.  Also, if a person decides after thumb-printing that he/she has chosen the wrong candidate, he/she can go back and give the ballot paper to the polling agent for it to be marked as a spoilt ballot and the person will be given a new one. So any ballot paper which cannot be used and does not go into the box is considered a spoilt ballot.

How Votes are Counted

At the end of the voting period, the presiding officer with all party agents around, pour out the ballot papers at the polling station and sort out valid ballot papers and rejected ballot papers.  All the ballot papers are held up for everyone to see.  With rejected ballots, all they agents must agree to the ballot being rejected. If an agent does not agree to a ballot being rejected, the said ballot paper is set aside, put in an envelope, sealed and labeled as a rejected ballot with objections.  This is sent to the returning officer at the collation centre for determination.

The valid ballot papers are then put together and sorted out according to candidate A, B, C, D or E.  When all ballots have been sorted out to the satisfaction of all the agents present, an audible counting is then done where the presiding officer holds up the ballot for each candidate and all present count along with him. Thus, at the end of counting, everyone has seen and agrees that Candidate A has this number of votes and Candidate B has that number of votes.  Where there is doubt, an agent can request for a recount to which the presiding officer must oblige.  If a second recount is requested, the presiding officer is not obliged to agree to a second recount.  He must carry the ballot box to the returning officer at the constituency collation centre where the recount will be done. After this recount, the results are entered onto a pink sheet and all agents append their signatures to show agreement.  Where an agent refuses to sign, there is a column where he or she must state the reasons.  Refusal to sign, however, does not invalidate the results of the polling station.  The validity of that result can only be questioned through an election petition to the high court.

How Results are Announced and Declared

Results are announced at the various polling stations after counting has been done. These results are posted at the various polling stations. The ballot boxes are sealed and all the party agents affix their seals on the boxes.  The boxes will remain locked for a year unless a high court asks that they be opened for verification in the case of an election petition.

Results are declared only when there is a winner.  Therefore, results for winners of parliamentary seats will be declared at the constituency level when all results from the polling stations in that constituency have been collated at constituency collation centre. These results will be projected on a screen for all to see.

At the Presidential level, the results will be announced at the various centres but can only be declared when a winner has emerged after collation at the national centre.

Results come in certified by the signatures of presiding officers, returning officers and party/polling agents.  Where there are disputes, there will be the reasons attached to them but this doesn’t stop the results from being declared. Disputes for the parliamentary elections can be settled in the high court and those for the presidential election in the Supreme Court. The declared results are gazetted by sending a constitutional instrument to parliament.

At the national level, results will be declared at the national centre at the Electoral Commission (EC).  Here, all accredited party agents and EC officers already have carbon copies of the pink sheets as they are sent in from the constituency collation centres.  The returning officer calls out the numbers/names of polling stations/collation centres as well as the number of votes for each candidate.  When all the numbers tally for everyone, they then input the results on laptops made available by the EC and the results are tabulated.  If the results gotten are not the same the tabulation is done again until all the results tally.  At the end of the exercise a declaration of the winner can then be made with the consent of all agents and officers who would have appended their signatures to the documents. The constitution allows a maximum of 72 hours after voting for the final presidential results to be declared.

The Winning Post

A simple majority is needed to declare the winner of a parliamentary seat. For the presidential, the winner must get 50% plus 1. The winner must get more than the other candidates combined.  If the highest is 50%, then the highest and the second highest go for a rerun and this must be done in 21 days.

How Turnout is calculated

Turnout is calculated by dividing the number of voters that turned out at a polling station by the number of voters on the register for that station multiplied by 100.  Thus, turnout at the national level will be number of votes cast divided by the number of voters on the register, multiplied by 100.

This information was obtained in an interview that the Head of Communication at the Electoral Commission, Mr Eric Kofi Dzakpasu, granted BusinessGhana.