The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it is ready for the Edo State Governorship Election scheduled for Saturday 21st September 2024.
In a statement on Tuesday, the electoral umpire said the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines required for the polls have been installed and configured.
“They are currently being charged, after which, they will undergo a meticulous Quality Assurance process, to test their security, performance and functionality. INEC will continue to put solid measures in place for a free, fair, credible and inclusive gov election in the State,” INEC said.
The Commission noted that Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) from the recent Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in Edo State would be available for collection at two levels.
“First, across all the 192 Wards from Thursday 22nd to Monday 26th August 2024.
Secondly, in our 18 LGA offices,” the statement said.
“Learning from the lessons of previous collection of PVCs, the Commission has carefully packaged all the PVCs by Poling Units, Wards and LGAs. We also produced the collection register, providing details of the voters whose cards were ready for collection and uploaded same to our website.
“In addition, we contacted them using the addresses provided at the time of registration. As a result, out of the 184,438 new PVCs available, 125,928 cards were collected by voters representing 68.3% of the total. This is the highest percentage of PVCs collected in five days since the Commission introduced the CVR ahead of off-cycle governorship elections in 2015.
“A detailed breakdown of the collection by LGAs has been uploaded to our website and social media platforms for public information.
INEC said collection will resume in the 18 LGA offices in Edo State from Wednesday 28th August 2024 and end on Sunday 8th September 2024.