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acts of the NEC and/or its representatives violated the constitutional and
statutory rights of voters to vote in the mentioned elections, first appellants
cited (i) instances of the late opening of some polling places without the
corresponding extension of the closing time to compensate for the late
opening, which had the effect of depriving some voters of the opportunity to
vote as some believed that the polling center would not have been opened
and others, especially the elderly, disabled, and infirmed having to return
home because they could not, for health reasons, withstand the long wait; (ii)
change of some polling places from one locale to another without the required
notice being provided to the affected registered voters being informed of the
change, especially in the absence of any emergency warranting the change or
for the lack of the required notice, which caused voters to return to their
homes, and hence not being able to vote; (iii) absence of the names of voters
from the Final Registration Roll (FRR) which had the effect of some voters
being declared ineligible to vote and turned away, while others, later in the
day, returned when informed of the NEC’s decision that voters whose names
did not appear on the FRR should be allowed to vote if they had valid
registration cards, verified through an SMS verification system but which NEC
announcement many voters were unaware of as it was not widely used, or by
way of the NEC hotline for presiding officers but which many voters did not
know of since they had no access to radio at the time of the announcement;
(iv) allowing voters whose names did not appear on the FRR to vote with their
names being placed on extra sheets, without proper verification, and which
could have had persons vote who should not have voted; (v) non-use of the
Presiding Officer Worksheet at various polling places which rendered polling
places unaccountable and exposed the ballot boxes to possible surreptitious
stuffing after polling had closed; (vi) lack of serial numbers on the ballots which
was a calculated means of ensuring the commission of massive fraud and
which could have allowed NEC officials and others to change and replace
ballots at will; (vii) absence of Queue Controller to direct voters to the correct
line where they were told that they were on the wrong line.
(b) With respect to the second set of allegations that the electoral
process was tainted with massive fraud, the complaint cited (i) incorrect