GBARNGA, July 19 (LINA) – Ahead of the 2020 Midterm Senatorial Election across the country, the upper Bong County Magistrate of the National Elections Commission (NEC), Mr. Daniel Newland, has concluded an assessment of structures for the polls slated for December 8, 2020.
Making the disclosure to the Liberia News Agency (LINA) recently in the county, Magistrate
Newland cited the setting up of a mobile team that will reach out to rural parts of the county to carryout voter roll update and other election processes to ensure improved polls in the county.
According to him, most structures that have been used by NEC for elections in upper Bong, including Gboveh Multilateral High School, are intact, while few others, like the Sunday Market located in Bassa Community in Gbarnga, need to be improved.
Newland described the ‘Sunday Market’ as “the structure that hosts the largest voting population” in Bong County with eight polling places, but noted that marketers have erected smaller structures around the building which could make it difficult for NEC to use the area, if the makeshift structures are not demolished.
Meanwhile, the upper Bong County Election Magistrate disclosed that arrangements are currently ongoing with county officials, including Bong County Development Superintendent Anthony Boakai Sheriff, and officials of the Marketing Association to ensure that all is done to prepare the Sunday Market for the December election because it is the single largest polling center in the county.
Mr. Newland disclosed that voting cards obtained in 2017 can still be used by voters, adding that for the voter roll update, NEC has structured centers into “groups of proximity” which constitute mobile teams that will reach out to all parts of the county.
“As movement plans have been reached by NEC, those who have reached the age of 18 will now have the opportunity to obtain their voter cards in areas they reside,” he said.
Magistrate Newland noted that the second group of people includes those who are transferred to other counties because of job or other reasons.
Those that fall in this group, he said, will be required to submit their old voter cards for verification before they are allowed to form part of the voter roll update.
According to him, the third group of voters who will form part of the voter roll update are people who were out of the country during the 2017 voter registration, including young people who have reached the voting age of 18.
He indicated that voters who might have lost their voting cards will take some responsibility by paying the amount of five United States dollars nto Government revenue before obtaining new voter cards.
Newland expressed optimism that before the December 8, 2020 Mid-term Senatorial Election in the country, and as per Constitutional mandate, there will be a referendum to amend Articles 28, 45, 47, 48, 50, and 83 (a) and (c) respectively based on three propositions, including “dual citizenship, reduction of tenure of elected government officials and the change of election date from October to November respectively.
Meanwhile, Magistrate Newland has disclosed that 80 former NEC workers will be hired for the upcoming Mid-term Senatorial Election in Bong County, contrary to the usual 344 the Commission hires for work.
He called on chiefs across the county to fully cooperate with the mobile teams that will be dispatched to various locations to conduct the pre-election activities.
Bong County has 13 political districts, including Panta, Zota, Salala and Kokoya, while there are seven electoral districts.
Currently, eight persons, including sitting Senior Senator Henry Willie Yallah, Deputy Speaker Prince K. Moye, former Liberian Ambassador to the United States of America, Jeremiah Sulunteh and former Development Education Network of Liberia (DEN-L) Executive Director, Madam Dorothy Tooman, are aspiring for the lone vacant senatorial seat of the county.
