The much anticipated biometric voter’s registration exercise got underway across the country Saturday morning but the process had not been entirely smooth at most polling centers visited by the Joy News TV team. The news team gathered registration of prospective voters started late at many polling centers with other centers having to grapple with technical challenges. By 8.30am Saturday when the news team visited the Mrs. Dua Maternity Home polling center at Accra Newtown, registration materials were yet to arrive, forcing some of those who had queued to get registered at the center trooping to the Accra Newtown Experimental School polling center to register. The news team followed up to the Accra Newtown Experimental School polling center. At the polling center, those who had gone there earlier to register told the news team the exercise started late and complained the process had been slow. By 8.35am only one person had been registered at that center. A resident, Peter Quaye told Joy News TV he joined the queue as early as 4 am hoping to be the very first person to register but had still not had his turn as of 8.40 am. Explaining the reasons for the late start of registration at the Newtown Experimental School center, the registration officer in charge of special duties, Kofi Dankyi said officials had taken just a few lamination materials so he had to go collect some more of the lamination materials from the Electoral Commission’s office before the exercise could continue. At the St. Theresa’s school polling center at North Kaneshie, party agents for the two major political parties, the NPP and the NDC were engaged in heated exchanges over the citing of a second polling center for the area at the school. According to the NDC agents, during a meeting with EC officials before the start of the exercise, all parties agreed that one polling centre be cited at St. Theresa’s School but the decision was reversed on the eve of the exercise based on a concern raised by the EC official for the area that one polling station would not be enough to cater for the huge numbers expected for the exercise hence the addition of one more polling centre, a development the NDC agents claimed they were not aware of hence the exchanges. The matter was later resolved when the EC officials arrived but that was not after both party agents had hurled insults at each other. The EC officials however declined to comment on the matter. 14 persons had been registered at the polling center by 9.30 am but the other participants in the queue complained the exercise was sluggish. The North Kaneshie FAO Point 4 center had registered 22 people by the time the news team arrived at the center. Just like the three other polling centers in the North Kaneshie area, registration at the Point 4 center also commenced at about 8.15am. Registration officials however blamed the late start of the exercise on the late arrival of registration materials. At the Blessed Home School polling center in Achimota, the registration officer in charge, George Baffour Amoah told Joy News TV the center encountered a challenge with the registration kit which made it difficult for them to register prospective voters. Only two persons were successfully registered by 5pm he told the News team. According to him, they called for assistance from the Electoral Commission but the challenge could not be resolved. The EC officials have however promised to replace the kit for a smoother registration exercise on Sunday. At the Queen of Peace Catholic Church registration center in Madina, electorates complained about the fingerprinting machine which according to them took thirty minutes to capture each participant’s finger prints. An electorate who gave his name only as Felix complained the registration officers were not familiar with the registration kit, a situation he said accounted for the delays in the process. In the Odododiodio, La-Dadekotopon and Ledzokuku constituencies however, registration started on time according to registration officers who spoke to Joy News TV but the prospective voters expressed worry about the delays in the registration process suggesting more officers be added to the current numbers at the various polling stations. In a related development, a young electorate was arrested at Tse Addo, a suburb of La for sounding like a foreigner and making a comment on the registration of foreigners. He was later released after investigations by the Dadekotopon police revealed he is a Ghanaian.