The Deputy Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Dr. Bossman Asare, has noted that a shortfall in ballot papers during elections is not an unprecedented occurrence.

According to him, this has been experienced many times in the history of the commission thus the issues that have arisen from the Volta Region’s issue are being exaggerated.

Earlier this week, the Commission reported a shortage of presidential and parliamentary ballot papers for five constituencies in the Volta Region.

The affected constituencies were Keta, Ketu North, Ho Central, Hohoe, and Ho West.

Dr. Bossman said the shortfall does not mean the EC has failed in its duties.

“What happened in the Volta Region is not unprecedented in the history of the Commission’s work. In this election, we have about seven or eight regions that have experienced shortfalls,” he explained, adding that “in this country, we tend to exaggerate matters,” he was quoted by myjoyonline.com.

“I think we had shortages in Greater Accra, Western North, and Upper West, and it’s normal; it is part of the process. Since 1992, even in 2020, when we printed the ballots, there were shortfalls,” he emphasised.

He added that the workload of the EC accounted for the shortfalls.

“In this election, we printed almost 19 million ballot papers for the presidential election and 19 million for the parliamentary election; hence, it is possible that a shortfall can occur,” he said.

The Commission said it had swiftly moved to address the issue and planned to print additional ballots at Acts Commercial Printing House.

SSD/ ADG

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