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investigated this matter and turned the said "Know Your Candidates"
posters to the NEC. The record shows that Appellants did not rebut this
testimony."
1st Appellants submit that the holding of the Final Ruling of the BOC
negates a holding of the Supreme Court of Liberia, which states that,
"We are taken aback, firstly, at the apparent misunderstanding by the
Board of Commissioners of the issues presented and, secondly, by its
reliance on legal technicalities in deciding whether in fact in the
counting and reporting of the ballots casts violated the law or whether
the totality of the facts presented pointed to such violation. In that
connection, we must emphasize that the National Elections Commission
is an administrative agency, not a court. As an administrative agency, its
role in the investigative process is primarily fact-finding, not legal
technicalities."
Other Issues
1.
Although 1st Appellants pleaded and two of its witnesses, Musa H.
Bility and Ben. Sanvee, testified as to the violation of the Constitution
and Elections Law of Liberia, which substantially and effectively
deprived voters of their constitutional right to vote, and that voters
were not similarly afforded equal opportunity and equal protection, as
guaranteed under the Constitution and laws of Liberia, the Board of
Commissioners (BOC) committed a reversible error when the BOC, in its
Final Ruling, failed to address the salient issue of the violation of the
constitutional right to vote, as well as equal opportunity and equal
protection under the law.
2. 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 violation of the Constitutional and legal rights
of the many voters, who were not allowed to vote because their names
were not found on the Final Registration Roll. On page 8 of the Hearing
Officer Ruling, the Hearing Officer conceded that, "The two witnesses of
the Defendant testified to difficulties and challenges faced by the
Defendant during the conduct of the October 10, 2017 elections. The
witnesses informed the Hearing Officer that polling staff could not identify
voters in the Final Registration Roll even though the voters were registered
and had their particulars in the roll."
3. 1st Appellants say and aver that the Board of Commissioners (BOC)
committed a reversible error when the BOC, in its Final Ruling, held that,
"WHEREFORE AND IN VIEW OF THE FOREGOING, Appellants' appeal is
hereby denied. The Hearing Officer's final ruling in these proceedings is
hereby confirmed and affirmed," without taking into consideration or
even referencing the holding of the Hearing Officer, which reads thus:
"WHEREFORE AND IN VIEW OF ALL I HAVE SAID ABOVE, the National
Elections Commission is mandated to take the necessary steps to correct
all what they alluded to as difficulties and challenges before any future
election." Here are some of the "difficulties and challenges" referred to
by the Hearing Officer, which were presented by the 1st Appellants during
the hearing, and which the BOC failed to consider: (i) In Margibi County,
Precinct #24180, Polling Place #1, Liberty Party Poll Watcher noticed that