The Electoral Commission (EC) has commenced its nationwide Special Voting exercise today, December 2, to allow election officials, security personnel, and media practitioners to cast their ballots early ahead of the December 7 general election. Unfortunately, voters in the Eastern and Western Regions will not be able to participate in today’s exercise due to a recall and reprinting of ballot papers following a detected leakage of the initial batch.

The EC’s decision to recall the ballot papers comes after the National Security reported that a single defaced ballot paper was removed from the premises of Checkpoint Printing Limited, the company responsible for printing the ballots. The defaced paper, which had been marked for destruction, was inadvertently taken out of the facility. Checkpoint Printing Limited has been a trusted partner of the Commission since 1992.

To address the issue, the EC announced that the reprinting of ballots for the Eastern and Western Regions will be undertaken by Dark Press and Innolink. This announcement was made by EC Chairperson Jean Mensa during an emergency press conference on Sunday, December 1, 2024.

As a result, Special Voting for the two affected regions, originally scheduled for today, has been rescheduled to Thursday, December 5, just two days before the general election on Saturday, December 7.

The Commission assured the public that enhanced security features will be added to the reprinted ballots for the Eastern and Western Regions to clearly distinguish them from the compromised ones.

All political parties and candidates have been informed of the situation and have agreed to the recall and reprinting measures. The EC emphasized that this decision is part of its commitment to maintaining the integrity of the election process.