Why There’s Low Turnout In Voter Registration

The Independent National Electoral Commission has explained the reasons behind the low turnout of citizens for voter registration across the country.

Speaking during an interview on Arise Television on Monday, the Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Etta-Messi, said that the distance many residents must travel to reach INEC offices in some communities has discouraged prospective registrants.

Etta-Messi said the Commission is now introducing a rotation policy that will allow registration machines and officials to be deployed to wards instead of limiting activities to local government headquarters.

She said, “So, one major challenge that has been noticed and noted is the distance of local governments from the communities. That has been discouraging for the citizens to come to their local government capitals to get registered.

“And so because of that, the Commission is aware of that challenge. And so during the second phase, they are going to introduce the policy of rotation.

“So as we start today, because we’re not going to have the exercise on weekends, it’s about 75 days from today, January 5 to April 17. That will cover the second phase.

“So the Commission is looking into starting 50 days towards the end of the exercise, and would initiate the rotation policy where the machines and the registration teams would be taken from ward to ward.

“And so we will draw out a schedule, where we would now be moving from one ward to another, and the devices will be taken closer to the people at the ward level. But for now, we’re still holding on to the local government and the state offices,” she said.