“The cards are still there and they are safe and the deadline is March 3rd. We encourage everyone to collect their ID cards but if someone could not collect it for circumstances beyond their control, they would be allowed to vote without the voter ID card,” he said.
He further explained that NEC is well prepared and committed to conducting a credible elections, noting that, the ballot papers have already arrived and that NEC has started distributing election materials nationwide.
N’fa Alie Conteh went on to say that with support from government and the international community, NEC has put mechanisms in place for the elections and has embarked on training staff and conducting meetings with political parties in order to ensure transparent electioneering process.
According to him, the NEC officers at the voting centre would ensure that the right individuals exercise their voting rights even without voter ID cards.
“I am encouraging people without voter ID cards to take along documents like passport or any other form of identification; but if they don’t have any document, the polling staff will ask questions that were asked on registration day and would check on the Voter Register to make sure of the name and other detail of any person who comes to the polling station to vote without a valid voter ID card.