Electronic Voting in Ghana: Is It The Solution To Ghana’s Perceived Electoral Challenges After Biometric Registration?

Abstract

Recent election results in Ghana have been characterized by series of allegations over vote rigging. These allegations and counter allegations from the various political parties led to the use of biometric voter registration in 2012 general elections. As if this is not enough, the 2012 Presidential election results is being challenged by the New Patriotic Party’s presidential candidate, his running mate and the party’s chairman  at the Supreme Court. This development has led to many Ghanaians calling for the use of electronic voting in the subsequent elections, with the view of bringing this controversy to an end. The purpose of this paper is to find out whether electronic voting could help prevent vote rigging and make election results acceptable by all political parties.  A sample size of one hundred and sixteen (116) was selected by the researcher, comprising political party representative and  individuals  representing the whole population of Ghana. Convenient sampling technique was used with questionnaire for data collection. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was also used for analyzing the data. The study accepted the hypothesis that the electronic voting system will help eradicate rigging in Ghana and that the e-voting will encourage people to vote more and the best results of candidates might be achieved.

Key words: Election, Political Party, Vote Rigging, Electronic Voting, Biometric Registration, Electoral Commission