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elections. Information that the Presiding Officer inserted on the Record
of Count, such as, "Total of unused, spoiled and discarded ballot papers,"
"Number of ballot papers that should be in the ballot box," "Number of
ballot papers taken from the ballot box," and "Discrepancy if any," should
have been copied from rows, B, C, D, and E, respectively, of the Presiding
Officer's Worksheet. The Presiding Officer's Worksheet required the
Appellee's Presiding Officer to insert information/statistics in the
Presiding Officer's Worksheet four times during the day—in the morning
(before polling), during the day, at the end of polling, and at the end of
reconciliation. None of this was done; instead, the Appellee's Presiding
Officer use only the Record of Count, at the end of polling, while
deceptively indicating the information on the Record of Count was
taken from the Presiding Officer's Worksheet.
5. 1" 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 Message of the Chairman of the BOC, Cllr.
Jerome G. Korkoya, as contained in the Polling and Counting Manual For
Staff, stating that "We hope that this manual, the approved electoral
rules, practices and functions will be used to ensure that the 2017
General Elections are successful, credible (emphasis ours), and
professional." 1St Appellants submit that the deliberate failure of the
Appellee to use the Presiding Officer's Worksheet brought into question
the credibility of the elections, as was contemplated by the Chairman of
the BOC.
Appellants' Allegation Concerning the FRR
1. 1" Appellants say and aver that the Board of Commissioners (BOC)
committed a reversible error when the BOC, in its Final Ruling, failed to
take cognizant of Section 3.11(2) of the Elections Law, which provides
that, "The Commission shall determine a period of not less than at least
two (2) days before Election Day which: (a) The registration roll shall be
available for inspection at each Registration Center (emphasis added)
and compared with the Commission's Master Registration Roll to make
sure the roll is in order and that the names of the deceased registered
voters are removed from the roll in accordance with the provisions of this
chapter; and, (b) Claims for Registration and Objections to Registration
may be made. The dates determined by the Commission shall be
published in the same manner as is required by Section 3.2 for
Notification of Registration Centers." Pursuant to the aforesaid quoted
law, the Appellee issued its "Voter Registration Regulations, Section 22.1
of which provides that, "NEC shall certify the Final Registration Roll and
print one copy for each polling place." The failure of the Appellee to
comply with and enforce the Elections Law and Regulations is indeed a
reversible error.
2. 1st Appellants say and aver that the Board of Commissioners (BOC)
committed a reversible error in its Final Ruling, by equating posting of the
purported FRR on the NEC's website, and/or saving the purported FRR on
flash drives, and distributing them to seven political parties, and/or
making the purported FRR available at all the NEC's Magisterial Offices,
instead of registration centers and/or polling places to publication, as
contemplated by the Elections Law and Regulations. 1st Appellants