On voided and valid votes

THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has decried the high number of rejected votes across the country in the just past elections, saying that it signaled a dangerous trend that needed to be tackled by the Commission in partnership with the political parties. I want to appeal to INEC to study Ede North and Ede South to find out how illiterate people voted during September 22, 2018 governorship election without recording voided votes or they minimize voided votes.

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We need to study the techniques used by illiterates to eliminate voided votes as we continue with the 2019 elections. We need to find out why high rate of illiteracy does not lead to numerous numbers of voided votes in Ede South and Ede North in Osun State. The electorate in Ede North and Ede South with high rate of illiteracy has proved during Osun 2018 governorship election that illiterate people can cast their votes correctly by eliminating voided votes. The two councils have high rate of illiteracy and the people voted by eliminating voided votes.

There were controversies about the categorization of ballot papers as void or not and the performance of the electoral officers were however questionable as element of professionalism appears absent in Ede North and Ede South local governments during September 22, 2018 governorship election in Osun State. Party Agents were made to decide if a ballot paper is void or not and there were no voided votes or the voided votes were minimal. But curiously, the electoral process did not record a single voided vote, given the high illiteracy level of the vast majority of Ede North and Ede South electorate.

Out of the 30 local governments in Osun State, Ede North and Ede South were only the two local governments that did not record voided votes during that election. INEC needs to study the last governorship election in the two local governments to curb the problem of invalid votes, vote buying and vote selling across the country.  In fact, INEC should critically examine the results of Ede South and Ede North and come up with strict measure to cut down the number of voided ballots in the 2019 elections.

Political parties should enlighten their members and their supporters on the need for them to participate in the election and vote correctly. Town unions, market women and other associations should also educate their members on how to vote during elections by using the 30 local governments in Osun State, Ede North and Ede South were only the two local governments that did not record high voided votes during the September 22 governorship election as a case study.

Inwalomhe Donald,

Osun State