AYV News April 12, 2023
The Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (EC-SL) has informed that within the first 4 days of the distribution process nationwide, One Million, Five Hundred Thousand, One Hundred and Twelve (1,500,112) Voter Identification Cards were collected for the 2023 elections.
Chief Electoral Commissioner (CEC) of EC-SL, Mohamed K. Konneh said the above figure accounts for about 80% of Centres reported, adding that based on the same parameter of Centres reported as indicated above, 2324 photo less cards have been identified and collected, adding that registrants of these cards had their photos taken to ensure that pictures of them appear on the final voter register.
The CEC said 243 cards with mismatched photos have been identified, 3176 misplaced registrations found and that photos of mismatched registrants are being taken using the mobile application and attestation issued in line with procedure.
The EC-SL boss went on that misplaced registrants are also being relocated to their correct registration Centres using the mobile tablet, adding that new voter registration card numbers and new voter registration cards have new unique voter ID numbers.
These numbers he said, are different from the old voter ID numbers to prevent counterfeiting of the new voter registration cards and that EC-SL’s Web and mobile SMS verification platforms have been temporarily closed.
“These platforms were populated with the old voter ID numbers since voters did not have their new voter cards. The verification platforms will be reopened after the distribution of cards where voters will have the opportunity to verify their registration details using the new voter card numbers” the CEC assured.
Speaking on facts about voter registration cards for the 2023 elections, the chief electoral commissioner said the temporal card is used for voting, adding that it is sensitive so any fraud attempt can be identified and let it be void.
He said it also has built in lamination with several layers of security, an invisible ink, securitized hologram foil, microtext, guilloche and a barcode to verify voter number.
He went on that with the new Card, microprinting can be identified by magnifier or zooming; invisible ink identified by UV Lamps-365mm frequency; that the hologram foil coat of arm is visible and touchable and that the guilloche pattern clearly visible.
“The Commission is however cognizant of issues relating to the quality of the photos of the voter registration cards and we are currently having an engagement with the contractor about this. The Commission would like to encourage the public to collect their voter registration cards for the remaining days in order to complete the process.
“The Commission remains committed to the principles of Accountability and credibility and our constitutional duty to conduct credible and inclusive elections”. CEC Mohamed K. Konneh concluded.
