Private legal practitioner, Sampson Lardy Anyenini, has argued that there is no law that prescribes punishment for persons who decide to make their votes public during elections.
Speaking on JoyNews, Sampson Lardy Anyenini argued that while the law advocates the protection of a voter’s choice, it does not proscribe the publication of the vote by the person.
According to him, the law in its current state mandates the electoral authorities to ensure that the decisions of people are protected from the public.
However, he said there is no such law against persons who deliberately make their choice of candidate public after voting.
“If I voluntarily disclose my vote, I cannot be punished for voluntarily disclosing my vote. The secrecy rule cannot be enforced against the person whose vote is meant to be protected if they choose to disclose it voluntarily.
“That is why we have exit polls, where people stand by waiting for you to vote. As soon as you vote, they ask you who you voted for, and you declare — ‘I voted for Trump.’ By the close of voting, even though the votes have not been counted and declared, America already knows who has potentially won the election,” he said.
He explained further that “A crime is what is prohibited by written law. The law must be written, and the offence must be prescribed. Which law can you refer to that says you are prohibited from doing what you just said?”
His comments come on the back of reports that some Ghanaians who took part in the Special Voting exercise took shots of their votes.
Reports indicate that some of the voters took shots of their votes and presented them to some candidates for financial gain.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
