ASSESSING THE EFFECTS OF ELECTORAL REFORMS IN GHANA: THE CASE OF BIOMETRIC VOTER REGISTRATION AND VERIFICATION

ABSTRACT

Ghana returned to constitutional rule in 1993 and has made tremendous strides in its democracy. This has won the country international acclaim. The country has often been described as the beacon of democracy in the West African sub-region. This has been made possible with the smooth conduct of peaceful elections coupled with electoral reforms. The adoption of these electoral reforms has gone on to ensure a relative sense of electoral integrity albeit with challenges particularly in the 2008 and 2012 general elections. This study sought to examine the effects of the 2012 and 2016 biometric voter registration and verification system introduced into Ghanaian elections as a mechanism against multiple voting, multiple registrations, unqualified voter registrations and voting and other electoral irregularities that plagued elections in the past. The study adopted the mixed method approaches to gather data for this research.

The study found that, the integration of biometric technologies into Ghana’s electoral process have substantially reduced multiple voting and voter impersonation; checked against multiple registrations, ballot stuffing, carousel voting, and over voting; and consequently helped enhanced electoral credibility and trust among electoral stakeholders’ particularly political parties. The study also shows that the current biometric system is unable to detect and prevent registration by minors and foreigners, and also have verification challenges particularly among pregnant women. It is therefore recommended that the biometric voter registration and verification system for now should be well consolidated and used in future elections.