The Electoral Commission has developed a mobile app that will give everybody official real-time results of the December 7 elections.

The EC revealed this after it met all seven presidential hopefuls in the 2016 elections.

“In addition to broadcasting the results collation process live on television, and publishing the results on the Commission’s website, the EC has developed a mobile application which will give the public real-time access to the officially certified results. The mobile app (ThumbsApp) will soon be available on the android and IOS platforms for download.”

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This is one of the many measures by the EC to ensure there is a free and fair election.

Some of the other ‘integrity measures’ are as follows:

1. Ballot issuers are required to hold up each ballot paper issued for scrutiny of all at the Polling Station and to ensure its validation before handing over to the voter.

2. Polling Stations will be set up in a standardised manner that minimises security threats, improves transparency, ensures that agents are placed in positions that allow them to play their roles effectively and protects the secrecy of the ballot.

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3. All Presiding Officers will be issued with gloves which must be worn before sorting of ballots and counting.

4. Presiding Officers and Returning Officers will issue copies of collation sheets to Candidates/Agents.

5. Results Collation Sheets have unique serial numbers and are personalised to each Polling Station. Replacement Results Collation Sheets printed for use in the event of damage or loss of the personalised Results Collation sheets are a different colour and also have unique serial numbers.

6. Electronic transmission of the results to be implemented by the Commission is an added layer of integrity to the process. The Electronic Results Transmission System is also encrypted, making it impossible for anyone to interfere with or manipulate the results.

7. The colour of the indelible ink will be different from the ink on the thumbprint pad. This is to help reduce the number of rejected ballots resulting from accidental markings on the ballot papers from indelible ink on fingers.

Analysis

The EC is doing all within its power to reduce rumours during ballot counting. It is also doing its best to ensure the general public has access to information as quickly as possible.

However the regular internet challenges in Ghana will be an issue. One can only hope that the internet operators on that day ensure that Ghanaians can rely on the internet for such information.