We Are Not Creating New Polling Unit — INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has said it will not create new polling units in the expansion of access to Polling Units exercise.

The Head, Voter Education, and Publicity, INEC, Mark Usulor, in a statement for the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Rivers State, said the exercise in the state was not targetted at creating new polling units ahead of the 2021 polls.

He noted that staff of the Commission were being deployed to the field to identify the locations of Polling Units (PUs) that already have voting points (VPs) with a view to converting such voting points to stand-alone PUs, based on the template approved by the Commission

Usulor said: “In line with the guidelines issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) headquarters Abuja, INEC Rivers State wishes to inform the general public of the commencement of activities for the expansion of access to Polling Units in Rivers State.

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“Those Staff shall also proceed to identify locations for the siting of the new polling units, relying on scientifically generated data on the concentration of voters in the existing polling units as well as INEC’s guidelines for siting polling units.

“The public is again reminded that the principle for the expansion of the access to polling units is simply to convert the voting points attached to the existing polling units into stand alone polling units.

“For the avoidance of any doubt, no new or additional polling units will be created outside the conversion of existing voting points whose identity and locations are already established by the Commission.”

He, however, urged the public, especially communities to cooperate with INEC staff deployed for the important assignment by granting them unfettered access to all facilities and locations where the exercise will take place.