YARPAH TOWN, River Cess – Reports are coming in that fewer people are turning up at the voter registration centers in River Cess, with some voter registration staff often spending more than four hours without registering a single voter.

For example, at the Zammie Town Center, the registration official told The Bush chicken that one person registered on February 7^th at approximately 11:00 a.m., but there was no other activity until 5:00 p.m. that day.

“Since we registered the last person at 11 o’clock this morning, no one has come for registration and it is 5 o’clock now,” he said. “This is how it has been since we started the registration process, even though we have registered about 300 voters.”

At the Sayweonwor Town Center, Emmanuel Hoto said only four persons were present on Wednesday, February 8.

“We registered only four people yesterday, and that was just one family,” Hoto said.

A voter registration center in River Cess. Photo: Eric Doue

The Yarpah Town Center is one of the few centers that has registered more than 500 voters, but Stanley Cee, one of the officials present, said “the turnout is getting poorer on a daily basis.”

“The turnout here is very poor these few days. This was not like that from the beginning,” Cee said.

There are also reports that some voter registration centers are closing before the stipulated time. On February 6, the Toe Town Center closed before 4:00 p.m., although an official who preferred to remain anonymous said the center would now be opened until later.

“We were told at the training that our working time is from 8:00 in the morning to 4:00 in the evening,” he said. “But we are just hearing from you about 6:00, so we will improve on the time beginning tomorrow.”

Yarpah Town registration center. Photo: Eric Doue

A voter registration monitor told The Bush chicken that the Sayweonwor Town Center on February 7, closed to the public at 3:00 p.m.

“By 3:45pm, I was at the center in Sayweonwor Town Center but I did not meet any [voter registration] staff there,” the monitor said. At 4:34 p.m. that same day, a The Bush Chicken confirmed indeed that the center had closed for the day before 4:00 p.m.

Meanwhile, assistant elections magistrate Isaac W. Williams has warned voter registration center officials to desist from closing before the stipulated time.

“We are hearing that [voter registration] staff members are closing the centers before 4:00 p.m. The centers are to remain open from 8am to 6pm,” Williams said. “We will terminate the contract of anyone who we will close the center before 6pm.”

Featured photo by Eric Doue