Congratulations to the people of our beloved republic. The October 10th, 2023 general elections were extremely peaceful, with a massive turnout throughout the country because the Liberian people believed that the elections belong to the people.
By Rufus S. Berry II, [email protected]
The turnout was a clear testimony that every citizen’s vote is sacred because it’s how we guarantee that our government remains of the people, by the people, and for the people.
With 98.40% of the votes counted, there were over 112,875 invalid votes. This is the highest number of invalid votes within the last 18 years, going back to the 2005 general elections. In this article, we will analyze the valid and invalid votes from 2005 to 2023.
Throughout the world, history has shown that voter education is extremely important for any successful election. The lack of adequate voter education may have been the reason for such an extremely high number of invalid votes – 112,875. However, in doing a detailed analysis of the invalidated votes, which make up 5.88%, it’s pretty much in line with the 2017 invalid votes of 5.39% and significantly better than the 2011 number of 6.37%. The 3.85% of invalid votes from the 2005 general elections is universally acceptable. However, almost twice as many people voted in 2023 – over 1,920,641 as compared to 1,012,673 in 2005.
In order to reduce the number of invalid votes to 3% or below, NEC certainly needs to do a much better job in voter education. Voter education campaigns should seek to achieve universal coverage of the electorate, ensuring the effective dissemination of information, materials, and programs designed for this extremely important general election. This should have involved providing information on who is eligible to vote, where and how to register, how electors can check the voter lists to ensure they have been duly included, where, when, and how to vote, who the candidates are, and how to file complaints.
Taking into account the extremely high rate of illiteracy in our beloved country, NEC should have done a much better job in voter education, making information available and accessible to all constituents.
Perhaps the funds allocated for the elections weren’t distributed to NEC on time, or the time earmarked for voter education for this extremely important general election was short. Either scenario is totally unacceptable. The hypothesis has long been established that for an election to be successful and democratic, voters must understand their rights and responsibilities and must be sufficiently knowledgeable and well-informed to cast ballots that are legally valid and to participate meaningfully in the voting process.
A well-planned and effectively executed voter education is even more critical in our beloved country, where political situations have always been volatile and where elections may have an unprecedented impact on the future of our republic.