2023 Election: INEC creates 924 new polling units in Ondo

The Ondo State office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Friday, disclosed it had created additional polling units across the 18 Local Government Areas of the state ahead of the 2023 general election.

INEC explicitly declared that it had created extra 924 polling units which had improved the polling units in the states to 3,933.

The state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr Rufus Akeju, stated this at a shareholder meeting for the execution of the increase of voter access to polling units in Nigeria.

Akeju clarified that the commission arrived at the figure by changing current voting points that meet the lowest boundary of 750 or a highest of 1,000 voters per polling unit.

As indicated by him, INEC had received several letters from voters complaining of being excluded because of the far distance of the polling units to their area.

The REC added that the decrease in voter turnout in the last four electoral cycles could be on the grounds that voters have to walk long distances to get to their polling units.

He said, “The results from the field works are currently undergoing verification and the new polling units in their locations will be reflected in the forthcoming Continuous Voter Registration exercise.

“We have been receiving letters for the past 25 years over inadequacies of polling units. People trek long distances and some are afraid of likely electoral violence.”

Akeju stated that with the most recent development, the increased polling units would be accessible to the 1,822,346 voting inhabitants of the state.