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around 6:30 p.m. after polling had closed, and the ballot box had been
sealed, a group of persons came from the rear of the building.
Surprisingly, the seals on the closed ballot box were broken by the
Presiding Officer, and those individuals were allowed to vote. (ii) In
Bongaplay, District #4, Nimba County, the NEC had only three polling
places, when there should have been four. The voters who were being
deprived of their constitutional right to vote, took matters into their own
hands, and disrupted the voting. (iii) In Lofa County, Precinct #21128, a
Liberty Party Poll Watcher was tied, beaten, and bruised by a Police
Officer Jefferson Togbah on orders of the Presiding Officer, because he
had continuously raised issues of counting irregularities. (iv) Two young
men, who do not appear
to be NEC officials, but in any case, unaccompanied by a Police Officer,
were photographed, wading in a body of water with sealed ballot boxes
on their heads. (v) Individuals, whether they are NEC officials or not, in a
canoe carrying ballot boxes, were unaccompanied by a Police Officer, as
shown in a photo. (vi) In District #4, Klein Town, Polling Center #09085,
Polling Place #1 in Grand Bassa County, ballots were cast in a tub, instead
of a sealed ballot box. The Presiding Officer, Mary Yarkpawolo, admitted
that a sealed ballot box was not used, but claimed that what she used was
an unsealed "Polling kit" and not a tub. She claimed that a ballot box is
not "sensitive material." (vii) In District #4, Kennedy Town, Polling Precinct
09039, Polling Place #2 in Grand Bassa County, ballots were cast in a
carton box, instead of a sealed ballot box. The Presiding Officer, Patrick K.
Ninwillay, admitted that a sealed ballot box was not used, but claims that
what he used was an unsealed "Polling kit." (ix) In District #13,
Montserrado County, voters cast their votes in a box that was not a sealed
ballot box. But what is of greater significance is that the box was open
while voters cast their votes, as shown by photos of the box. (x) The
Women's Situation Room (a non-partisan and neutral based forum
organized pursuant to UNSCR 1325), issued a statement on October 16,
2017, which read, "However, reports from our observers across the
country as well as data received from the public via the 1010 short code
in our Call Centres pointed to some deficiencies on polling day. As at
yesterday Sunday, 15th October, 2017 our two Call Centres received a
total of 1086 incident reports. 784 of these incidents were NEC related
while 302 were security related. ... The NEC related calls were on issues
of identification of voters polling places (voters who could not identify
where they supposed to vote), NEC changing precinct locations thereby
confusing voters with large number of invalid votes ..., many of the
polling precincts were in schools which were inaccessible to the
physically challenged and the elderly, the late arrival of ballot boxes and
voting materials in some" (xi) Although the NEC quarantined 14 ballot
boxes, meaning that the ballots of many voters have not yet been
counted, the NEC announced the final results of the Elections, and was
ready to proceed with the runoff.
4. 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