NCD to introduce new polling-place plan: Gamato

National

THE National Capital District will be introducing a new polling-place implementation plan in the upcoming elections, Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato announced yesterday.
Gamato said that in the plan multiple-booth polling places would be created for NCD voters.
“This will be done for the first time in this election so that voters can easily find their place to vote,” he said.
“Additional benefits to centralised polling places are more concentrated security forces, more efficient delivery and retrieval of electoral materials and more effective appointment of temporary election workers.
“With this new arrangement, each polling place will have at least one or more polling booths where voters will be issued with ballot papers to mark their three most-preferred candidates.” Polling for NCD will be conducted on June 27, in which registered voters from the open electorates – Moresby North-East, Moresby North-West and Moresby South – will cast their ballots at polling places established in their respective suburbs, communities or settlements, all of which are known as polling locations.
“If a voter is not registered, he or she will not be able to vote,” he said.
Gamato said the NCD polling operations were as follows:

  • Only voters who are registered on the Electoral Roll for their respective polling location (suburb, community, settlement, compound, etc) will be allowed to vote at their polling place;
  • When a voter arrives at their assigned polling place, they must ask the Electoral Commission polling staff at which polling booth they should cast their vote – depending on their last or family name;
  • Each polling booth will serve voters based on the alphabetical order of the first initial of the last or family name. Large signs will be visible to direct voters to the correct polling booth. For example, at a one-booth polling place, the voters from A to Z will be served. At a two-booth polling place, the voters will be served from A to M at Booth 1 and N to Z at Booth 2 and so on for whatever number of polling booths in the polling place;
  • There will be two lines for each polling booth – one for men and one for women or people with disabilities. Inside some polling booths, Electoral Commission staff may issue ballots to the voters in both lines, depending on the number of voters assigned to that polling booth. Pregnant women and senior citizens will be allowed to the front of the line to cast their votes;
  • Voters may be required to confirm their name is on the electoral roll at the entrance to the polling place before they are directed to the appropriate polling booth. If the voter’s name is not on the electoral roll for that polling location, they will not be able to vote at that polling place, with no exceptions.
  • Voters are encouraged to check if their name is on the electoral roll and at which polling place they are supposed to vote before election day.