Cold weather affects BVD machine operation in Sissala East

Voting in the ongoing District Level Elections delayed in most centers in the Sissala East constituency, due to the cold weather conditions adversely affecting the operation of the BVD machines in the area.

Mr Moro Baba, the Deputy Returning Officer of the Electoral Commission in the Sissala East, explained that the cold weather could cause the BVD machines to lose their sensitivity, making them ineffective to capture fingerprints.

He therefore advised Electoral Commission (EC) officials at the various polling stations to make water available for voters to dip their fingers or wash their hands, to make their fingers soft for the BVD to capture their fingerprints.

As at 7:13 GMT when the Ghana News Agency (GNA) team visited the Falahia Basic School polling centre, the exercise was yet to start and when they finally did, the Biometric Verification Device (BVD) had challenges verifying the voters.

Mr Musah Moro, the Returning Officer at the polling centre, said the polling station had a total register of 598 eligible voters, and by 7:15, no one had voted.

At the TB GPRTU, Mr Lamin Abdullah, the Returning Officer said by 7:05 the polling station had been set up and by 7:30 am only two people out of the 647 registered voters on the register had voted due to the slow response from the BVD machines.

Mr Hussein Eliasu, the Sissala East Municipal Director of the NCCE who also monitored the exercise told the GNA that the slow operation of the BVD was worrying and expressed hope that it might improve if the weather conditions improved within the day.

Mr Hussein said some of the traders who could not wait left the queues for their workplaces, and expressed fears that it might affect the voter turnout.

At the Court House one polling centre, Mr Kandei Jabreel, the Returning Officer said voting started on time and that as at 7:55 AM, 14 people had voted out of the 748 on the roll despite the initial challenges with the BVD.

There were agents for some of the contestants in the three polling stations visited.