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Hearing Officer; it was the refusal by the NEC to allow average
Liberians, who were registered voters, to vote because their names
were not found on the FRR. The BOC failed to take into consideration
the testimony of an average Liberian, Victoria Koffa, who testified as
follows: "On Election Day I went to vote. I got on the first line I
reached in the room. I showed voter ID card and they said my head
was not there. They sent me to room 2. I went to room 2. I showed
my voter ID card again, they said my name was not there and they
told me to go to room 7. I went to room 7, they had 2 lines there. I
got on one of the lines. Later, one boy came with a copy book. He
opened it and started calling people by their name to go and vote.
They were calling people by their name to vote. Our foot was tired. I
went closer to him and was looking at him to see whether he will call
my name, but I never heard my name. Then I asked him, he said your
name not in here, in fact your head not here, so you people will not
vote. I left there it was 8 o'clock in the night. We left there and we
never voted." The BOC failed to take into consideration the testimony
of another average Liberian, as referred to on page 5 of the Hearing
Officer's Ruling, "The Intervenor/Complainants tenth witness was
Dennis Saah Popay, a resident of Duazon, Margibi County. The
witness provided as follows; that he went to vote at the Rock
International and his name was not found in the FRR and his name
was written on an addendum and allowed to vote." These testimonies
remained unrefuted by the Defendant.
6. 1st Appellants say and aver that the Board of Commissioners (BOC)
committed a reversible error when the BOC, in its Final Ruling, failed to
take into consideration the Appellee's witness Lighe, who testified as
to the incompetence of the polling staff on election day, the absence
of Queue Controllers to direct voters to the right voting lines, and the
process of adding the names of individuals to the FRR, although no such
provision is contained in the 2017 Regulations. Witness Lighe testified
that, "Your Honor I like to obtain your permission to illustrate that over
the last few days there have been witnesses who have that there were
allow to vote because their names were not in the final registration roll
and were added to the addition of the roll. I like to state here that all
those voters were actually in our final registration base. I have evidence
to prove that all those voters were actually registered, but couple with
the fact that some of them went into the wrong room (emphasis ours),
and also some of the staffs were unable to find in the roll (emphasis
ours), they were added to the addendum if you can permit your Honor.
After my testimony, we will enter into evidence to prove that those
witnesses who have claimed that they were not allowed to vote, giving
that their names were not on the final voter roll is false. (See, Victoria
Koffa's testimony, as quoted in the immediate preceding paragraph 5,
above.) What actually happen was they went to the wrong room. There
were instances where they never went to the right room, but the staffs
there were not able to find them on the roll. My testimony your Honor
will also prove that the procedure of the process of addition to the
final roll is a process that has been prac-tice and contained in our
regulation as far back as 2005 (emphasis ours). I show you evidence