By; Jjunju Francis
As Kenyans go to the polls on August 8th, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has developed several solutions to avoid long queues at the polling stations.
IEBC used surnames to organize the queues, however this time they are to use first-name, multiple entrances to the polling stations that will be clearly marked to avoid crowding
The Daily Nations notes that, IEBC has also capped, as per the law, the number of people at a polling station at 700, further reducing the time one will queue to vote.
At the polling station, the IEBC will display a sample of the ballot paper for voters to familiarize themselves with the voting procedure before they are actually issued with the ballot papers.
The ballot papers are in different colors, the presidential ballot paper is white, member of Parliament (green), member of the county assembly (beige), senator (yellow), woman representative (purple) and blue for governor.
The votes will be counted and tallied and the results transmitted in that order.
In the event that a voter realizes that they have marked a ballot paper wrongly, they can get up to two more to correct their mistakes, according to the IEBC communications manager Andrew Limo, the process will reduce the number of spoiled votes once the ballots are cast.
19.6 million Kenyans were registered to participate in this general election, where they are to elect 416 members of parliament, 47 Governors, 1,450 deputy Governors and heads of counties and the President as seat contested by 18 members, with President Uhuru Kenyatta of the Jubilee Party and Raila Odinga of the Opposition Nasa are the main challengers.
However some Kenyans are in fear of electoral violence and most of them hired accommodation on the side of Uganda Maraba, Busia, Tororo among surrounding places in fear of the repeat of the 2007 violence that claimed over 1,000 lives.
Former US secretary of state John Kerry has is gratified with Kenya’s electoral body “Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission’s” level of preparedness ahead of tomorrow’s general election.
In their tour to ascertain the level of work to the election Kerry who is leading the Carter Centre Observer Delegation in the high-stakes Kenyan elections said everything was set for the election. Earlier on he expressed fears over safety and security situation of the voters given the pressures that were mounting from mainly the Jubilee ruling party and the opposition Nasa.
Head of religious denominations led by the Archbishop of Nyeri Catholic Archdiocese His Grace Anthony Muheria convened at Dedan Kimathi Stadium to pray for peace during and after elections. They challenged all candidates to put Kenya first than their self interests at the time of announcing the final results.
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