BEVERLY HILLS, May 07, (THEWILL) – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has created 924 additional polling units across the 18 local government areas of Ondo State.
This, INEC said, would increase the polling units in the states to 3,933.
It said the increased polling units would be available to cater for 1,822,346 voters.
Ondo Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Rufus Akeju, stated this at a stakeholders’ meeting for the implementation of the expansion of voter access to polling units in Nigeria.
He explained that the commission arrived at the figure by converting existing Voting Points that meet the minimum threshold of 750 or maximum 1,000 voters per polling units.
Akeju said the polling points were created ahead of the 2023 general elections to help decongest large polling units.
According to him, the commission was being bombarded with letters from voters complaining of being disenfranchised because polling units were far from their settlements.
The Ondo REC attributed the progressive decline in voter turnout in the last four electoral cycles to apathy from voters who would have trekked long distances to access their polling units.
He said: “The results from the field works are currently undergoing verification. And the new polling units in their locations will be reflected in the forthcoming Continuous Voter Registration exercise.
“We have been receiving letters for the past 25 years for inadequacies of polling units. People trek long distances and some are afraid of likely electoral violence.”
