Ghana’s EC Seeks Legal Framework for Electronic Backup of Polling Station Results
The Ghanaian Electoral Commission is moving to amend the legal framework governing elections to allow for electronic storage of scanned polling-station results, according to AllAfrica reporting from the Ghanaian Times. The proposal targets Constitutional Instrument (C.I.) 127, the regulation that sets out the operational procedures for the conduct of general elections in Ghana.
The EC’s push follows incidents during the 2024 general election in which result sheets were disrupted or destroyed at some collation centres. By creating a legal basis for scanning and electronically archiving polling-station records, the Commission aims to preserve a verifiable backup of the outcome at each station, even where physical documentation is compromised.
Ghana has held multiparty elections continuously since 1992 and is widely regarded in West Africa as a benchmark for peaceful democratic transfer of power. The Electoral Commission operates as an independent constitutional body responsible for voter registration, the demarcation of constituencies and the conduct of the ballot. C.I. 127, issued under the Electoral Commission Act, codifies much of the operational detail for general elections, including the handling, transmission and collation of results.
The proposed amendment does not, on its face, change how votes are cast or counted. Paper ballots and manual collation remain the foundation of the process. What changes is the legal status of a digital copy: scanned result sheets from each polling station would be admissible as an official record, giving the EC a parallel, machine-readable archive alongside the physical documents. The Commission has framed the change as a response to the practical vulnerabilities exposed in 2024.
If Parliament adopts the amendment, the EC would be required to set technical standards for the scanning equipment, the storage system and the chain of custody for digital files. Stakeholders including political parties and civil society observers have, in previous electoral cycles, called for stronger safeguards around result transmission, and the proposal is likely to be debated in that wider context.
Sources
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