With barely 150 days to the December 7 polls, the Electoral Commission (EC) has unrolled 27 reforms as part of plans to safeguard the credibility of the election.

These reforms include a redefinition of what constitutes an over-voting incident at any polling station.

EC boss, Charlotte Osei, explained to news editors in Accra Tuesday that there would be over-voting incident at a polling station when the number of ballot casts exceeds the number of people verified to vote.

This, she said, is significantly different from the previous definition of over-voting which has created problems for the Commission in the past.

Previously, when the total number of valid vote cast and rejected ballot were more than the total number of registered voters, there is a case of over voting.

“We informed Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) last year that the definition of over-voting the EC would have liked would be where the number of valid votes in the box exceeds the number of people who were verified to vote,” she said.

Per the EC’s definition, if the total number of votes in the ballot box and rejected ballot are more than the number of verified voters there is an over-voting incident.

E-Transmission of results:

Mrs Osei says the Commission would go ahead with the electronic transmission of the results of the general election despite opposition from the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The NPP wants the manual system maintained since the e-transmission of results failed in other countries including Kenya, Ecuador and Mexico, hence its opposition.

She explained what the Commission aimed to achieve with the process was to ensure that they get to view the results before the declaration is made.

“We have not finished the declaration process and soon the Commission will take a decision as to where we are going with that – the procurement process is ongoing,” she said.

She, however, said results from the electronic system would only be provisional while the result from the manual one would be final.

“The system was to be an additional set of results so that we can compare if there are any discrepancies that we can figure out,” she said.

Appointment of GBA members and Chartered Accounts:

Mrs Osei also said the Commission would be deploying some members of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) and Chartered Accountants to help vet the ballot papers at the various polling stations.

She said in addition, the Commission would ensure that persons applying to serve in the capacity of an electoral officer have higher qualification background.

They would also be made to take an oath before a magistrate so that in the event they foul the law they would be either fined or be made to face an imprisonment term of two years.