Polls: Huge turnout as EC  starts issuing voter slips 

A VLS is a piece of paper issued to voters by EC to enable them identify their polling station before the voting day. 

The slips issued at various polling stations bear voters’ details such as name, voter number, district and village where one is meant to vote from. It also bears a voter’s photograph, date of birth and a unique barcode, which will be read by the Biometric Voter Verification machine on the polling day. 

 A voter is supposed to pick his/her slip in person from the parish or ward supervisor, who also is the EC employee.

The 10-day exercise that commenced on January 3 has seen sections of the public lash out at EC for not deploying enough manpower and for not enforcing the SOPs during the exercise. 

Inadequate staff
The chairperson of Kayanja Zone in Ndeeba Parish in Rubaga Division, Mr Fred Mpanga, said only four EC officials were deployed to issue VLS to hundreds of residents in the 15 villages of Ndeeba Parish.

“People have turned up in big numbers but there was poor planning on the side of EC because they provided only four staff to serve 15 villages in Ndeeba Parish. These [four staff] can’t serve all those 15 villages,” Mr Mpanga said.

“We came very early [in the morning] but we have been overpowered. We were forced to give people the slips so that they can check for their own and also for their friends who did not come, which is risky. We later realised that some had ill-intentions,” he added.

Mr Mpanga said the few people who volunteered to help in issuance of VLS lacked the basic civic knowledge about the exercise.
In Ndeeba, crowds were seen scrambling to locate their VLS and those of their colleagues who did not come.

In Lira District, EC officials were overwhelmed by the turnup and the ensuing confusion, there was no observation of Covid SOPs. 

In Agweng Sub-county, more than 800 voters turned up to collect their slips on the first day of the exercise last Sunday.

 The sub-county supervisor, Mr Daniel Okwir, said: “There were more than 800 people, who collected their slips, and today [Monday], the number is even going to be much higher. We shall know the actual figure at the end of the day after the tally.”

 The returning officer for EC in Kumi District, Ms Betty Owot Atim, said she had received allegations about some politicians who picked VLS for some people. 

“When the right voters came for their slips, they found they had already been picked but did not know who had taken them,” she said.
Some candidates, especially those vying for positions of councillors, camped at issuance centres and were seen persuading voters to vote for them as they offered to locate for them their VLS.

Influencing voters
One resident of Nabumali in Mbale City told Daily Monitor that an EC official had delivered her VLS to her home.

“The officer who brought the paper [VLS] asked me to ensure that I vote for President Museveni and also told me to pass on the message to other people I get to interact with,” the resident said.

However, Bushenyi District Registrar Godfrey Mbabazi said although the exercise of issuing voter location slips officially started on Sunday, some people in the area began getting them before Christmas.
“I went to Kampala before Christmas and brought the slips and we immediately began issuing them,” Mr Mbabazi said.

He said although the slips are being issued at parishes and wards, some officials issuing them [EC parish supervisors] find voters in their homes. 

“I’m moving house to house with a register and the slips, we are doing this because from around December 28, I sat at office but people were not coming. I decided to take them to their homes because time was running out,” Ms Florence Arinaitwe, the Central Ward (Bushenyi Municipality) supervisor, said.

Some polling stations where voters were meant to pick their VLS did not have the issuing EC officials and voters were stranded.
In Apac Municipality and Lira City, the team responsible for the distribution of the slips did not show up. 

Some residents were not even aware about the slips and said they did not know where to pick them.

 Ms Grace Okema, a resident of Alwala Cell, Akere Division in Apac Municipality, said she was not aware of the exercise.
 “I don’t know anything about the distribution of voter location slips. Nobody told us about it,” Ms Okema said.

 The distribution in Moyo, Busia and Jinja City were hampered by the sub-county and parish supervisors.
  
Mr Richard Opio Ogen, the Moyo District EC returning officer, said issuing of the voter slips had been hampered by the training.
 “Issuance of the slip has officially kicked off but the only challenge is that the same officials meant to oversee the exercise are undergoing training right now. We shall start action on day Two,” Mr Opio said.

EC response
The EC spokesperson, Mr Paul Bukenya, recommended that voters should desist from crowding at VLS issuance centres to avoid the risk of contracting Coronavirus. 

He said the voters can use other options to locate their polling stations.“Some people can use the digital options like some people have already done and got their voting locations. So they don’t need them to come and congest at the issuance centres looking for their slips because they can do so by using the [EC] website, especially urban people,” Mr Bukenya said.

He also asked the public to report with proof all EC officials who are using the exercise to campaign for particular candidates so that action can be taken against them.

“We have clear guidelines during the issuance of the VLS and our officers know that they don’t have to take sides or even mobilise support for any candidate. As election officials they are supposed to be impartial,” Mr Bukenya said. “If that is identified anywhere, it should be brought to our attention. We urge people to record them and send them to us so that we relieve them of their duties. Otherwise they will compromise the entire integrity of the process,” he added.

Does lack of VLS stop voting? Mr Bukenya said persons unable to produce the VLS on polling day will not be denied to vote as long as the polling station has his or her details. 

“I don’t think there is reason to worry [because] you can always find out where you vote from by contacting us EC.  Otherwise, we clearly indicated that the basis for voting on polling day will be the national voters’ register,” Mr Bukenya said. “So if a person presents himself at a polling station where they registered as voters and their particulars appear on the register, they will be allowed to vote even if they are not able to produce a VLS or even a national ID card,” he said. 

Mr Bukenya added. “This is because we can identify you using the biometric verification machine. That way we shall confirm that you are the one....’’

By Arthur Arnold Wadero, Bill Oketch, Santo Ojok, Patrick Ebong, Vicent Emong, Steven Ariong, Milton Bandiho, Philip Wafula, Denis Edema, David Awori, Martin Okudi, Geoffrey Okot & Cissy Makumbi