Gaya asks INEC to discard coloured ballot boxes

Former Governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Gaya, on thursday asked the Independent National Electoral Commission to stop a proposal to use three ballot boxes for the March 28 elections.
Briefing newsmen in Abuja, Senator Gaya revealed that information at his disposal indicated that INEC has concluded plans to use three coloured ballot boxes for the forthcoming elections.
Gaya explained that the introduction of different ballot boxes could bring about chaos and could end up truncating the electoral process altogether.
In his words: “First of all, INEC has not made it public that it is going to use three ballot boxes per polling unit for the three elections on March 28.
“The way we see it, INEC has introduced so many innovations.
“Maybe as a means of reducing rigging, to enhance democracy and its processes.
“But you see, don’t cramp so many things in one place.
“It’s a process of planning.
“When you do one thing, let it work and then you move to the next step.
“We are used to voting with one ballot box.
“The voter has the choice of choosing who to vote for.
“After selecting the party of choice, the voter then dumps the three ballot boxes in one box.
“It’s the job of the INEC staff to separate the votes and reconciliation is later done with the party agents.
“The voting pattern matters.
“What they are trying to introduce is that there would be three ballot boxes per polling unit, per polling station and the ballot boxes would be coloured for the three elections: one for the president, another for the Senate and another for the House of Representatives.
“The same process will be repeated for the April 11 elections.
“The problem is this: they said if a voter votes for the senatorial candidate but mistakenly places the ballot paper in the wrong box, maybe he puts it in the box marked for the president, that vote is invalid.
“The process is even confusing for the voter!
“This would create chaos, trouble and unnecessary confusion.
“The irony of it all is where the INEC would be compounding the electoral process by creating invalid votes with this new arrangement.
“It means they want to truncate democracy at an early stage.”
Senator Gaya also pleaded with the electoral body to stick to the use of one ballot box as it has always done in past elections.
He added: “”INEC should let us know if they have plans to extend the election on the day of the election.
“They should let us know.
“If not, they should go back to the use of one ballot box for the three elections.
“INEC doesn’t have the power to extend the elections.
“Section 26 (a) of the Electoral Act is clear on that.
“That section explicitly says that INEC can only extend election in areas where there is crisis….”