At the last primaries to elect a presidential candidate for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), one thousand, two hundred and seventy seven (1277) ballot papers were rejected. If another candidate had stood and gotten this number of votes, he could well have beaten Addai Nimo to fourth position. It is very frustrating to know that those who took part in the election were made up of a selected few who are very experienced, knowledgeable, educated and yet could make such mistakes in the voting. If such numbers of ballots could be rejected in a small-scale election conducted by the nation’s Electoral Commission, then Ghana's elections have a very serious problem and a long way to go.

Spoiled and rejected ballots have been recorded in every election in Ghana and still nothing concrete has been done to arrest this destructive and shameful situation. Note that spoiled ballot and rejected ballot are not the same and I will explain the difference later in the article. The article will discuss several measures that must be put in place to reduce the phenomenon in a manner that would ensure that the will of the people are clearly expressed and known after the conduct of elections.

Five general elections and at least four local government elections since 1992 should be enough to make the Ghanaian voter experienced enough to reduce rejected ballots in our elections. We cannot, however, say with pride that we have achieved this as a nation. During the first round of presidential elections in 2008, a total of 205,438 votes out of 8,671,272 ballots cast were rejected. This means 2.4% of total votes cast were rejected. This high number of rejected ballots is unacceptable and every effort must be made to intensify voter education so that precious votes are not wasted only because voters are unable to make their intentions clearly known.

The situation did not improve in subsequent elections. In 1992 – 64,354 votes (3.02%), 1996 – 111,108 votes (1.53%), 2000 – 104,214 votes (1.53%), 2004 – 188,123 votes (2.13%) and 2008 – 205,438 votes (2.4%) were all rejected. The Centre for African Democratic Affairs (CADA) is of a firm belief that if rejected ballots were a political party they could boast of a steady increase in popularity ahead of some of the smaller parties since Ghana's return to multiparty democracy.

The 2008 general election was very successfully conducted and that led to a peaceful transfer of power from the ruling party to the party in opposition. Due to the successful conduct of that election, respect for Ghana’s democratic credentials was boosted in Africa and among the international community. The high incidence of rejected ballot papers that characterizes the conduct of elections in Ghana has compounded a difficult situation and it is feared that the giant strides being made towards democratic consolidation may suffer severe setbacks. This article will discuss the incidence of rejected ballots in Ghana since 1992 and will argue that the high incidence of rejected ballots that have so far characterized elections in Ghana if not checked, poses a severe threat to the realization of the minimum requirement for achieving positive electoral dreams in Ghana. The rejected ballots could probably have pushed a candidate or a political party in second position to the top. These rejected ballots could easily have given a candidate the required 50% +1 if they were valid votes.

Rejected ballots disenfranchise all those who cast them. Those so affected may not even know that their democratic rights have not been recognised. It is painful that people stand in line for hours in the hot African sun to cast a vote in an exercise that provides them the only chance in four years to have a say in who rules them, only for their efforts to be discarded if their ballot is rejected. It is a huge dissipation of the citizen’s rights. Secondly, the more rejected ballots there are the more thin line cases there will be. Who decides which ballot to reject and which not to? Without clear cut guidelines, this can bring confusion in the counting stations and provide loopholes for cheating. The potential for complaints leading to violence is huge.

It is important to know that there is a difference between a rejected ballot and a spoiled ballot. A spoiled ballot should never find its way into the ballot box. It is generally one that a voter has inadvertently spoiled by marking it incorrectly. That is handed back to the voting station officers in exchange for a new blank ballot paper. The new one is carefully marked by the voter and placed in the ballot box. A spoiled ballot may also be one that is improperly printed, torn or soiled. These are taken away from the voters and new ones are given. On the other hand, a rejected ballot is one that finds its way into the ballot box but has been rejected at the count because it was improperly marked or is not marked at all even though a mark is required. A vote is rejected when, during counting, a ballot is found to have a mark for more than one candidate or political party when only one was supposed to be chosen. According to electoral law, any unofficial or unusual mark on a ballot paper that does not clearly reflect the choice of the voter is rejected.

What then can be done to prevent this unacceptable repetition of spoiled and rejected ballots? It is my personal view that, the old system where all the candidates or political parties are lined on one ballot paper is the reason for the over-spilling of the mark that a voter puts for one candidate spreading to another candidate due to carelessness, nervousness and ignorance. I will recommend that every candidate's picture, name and party symbol must be printed on one voting paper. The voter receives separate papers depending on the number of candidates. He goes to the room alone and selects the candidate he prefers and tears the others into pieces. He then comes out to the ballot box, and puts it in the ballot box. The rest of the ballot papers that are torn into pieces are thrown in the bin that will be provided. The voter must make sure the other ballot papers are properly destroyed so no one can use them again. NO MARK IS NEEDED. Before the count, all the returning officers must be thoroughly searched to avoid any of them stuffing the ballot box.

The NCCE must continue to intensify its nationwide education on proper voting to reduce the incidence of ballot papers being rejected or spoiled in the upcoming election of December 2016. To achieve effective results, the NCCE must continue to organize seminars and forums to demonstrate to the public the correct procedure of voting and also to collate views and other relevant information that could help reduce spoilage of ballots by voters. NCCE should concentrate its efforts on rural areas and slum areas where there is low level of education. All the information and education must be held in the local dialects so as to allow the electorates to understand the importance of the electoral education. The Commission is playing a major role in this direction; however, it must do more by setting a target that, come 2016 elections, spoiled and rejected ballots will either reduce drastically or be relegated to the abyss of forgetfulness. The NCCE must reach out to all the communication teams of the various political parties to inform them to further advice and educate their supporters on the need to avoid violence and also to exercise extreme caution when marking a ballot paper because every vote counts.

Written by Stephen Atta Owusu Author: Dark Faces at Crossroads Email: Stephen.owusu@email.com