Regional News of Friday, 7 December 2012

Source: GNA

Tension mounts at Kukurantumi over verification machine

Tension is mounting at Kukurantumi Cocoa Marketing Board (COMB) polling station where over 30 people had been rejected by the verification machine.

Out of the 386 registered voters only 120 had been able to cast their votes because most of the people have had their figures rejected by the machine.

According to Mr Richard Youngson, the Presiding Officer of the polling station, the first machine had been changed but still people were having problems with the new machine.

He said some of the voters who were enthusiastic to vote had used different kinds of solutions to wash their hands to enable them to vote but all to no avail.

When the Ghana News Agency (GNA) got to the polling station, some of those voters were agitating whiles others were threatening to disrupt the process if they were not allowed to vote.

Some residents around the polling station had provided big bowls of water to enable those affected to wash their hands yet some people claimed even though they washed their hands for five times yet still the machine rejected them.

One old man who claimed to be about 80 years told the GNA that he came to the Centre at 0400 hours but had not been able to cast his vote because the verification machine was not able to capture his finger.

He said he was advised to wash his hand thoroughly and go back so that the machine could identify him and had done so six times but on all occasions the machine rejected his fingers.

All efforts to contact the district electoral officer had not been successful.