The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed that 125,928 Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) have been collected by voters in Edo State ahead of the gubernatorial poll.
The PVC collection by the voters represents 68.3 per cent of the 184,438 new cards issued during the recent Continuous Voter Registration exercise held in the state.
INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, disclosed this on Tuesday, as part of preparations for the poll.
This marks the highest collection rate recorded by INEC since the introduction of CVR for off-cycle governorship elections in 2015.
The collection, which took place across all 192 wards in Edo State between 22 and 26 August 2024, was achieved through a carefully coordinated effort by INEC.
The commission credited the success to its strategic packaging of PVCs by polling units, wards, and LGAs, along with direct communication to voters about the availability of their cards.
“As previously announced by the Commission, Permanent Voters’ Cards from the recent Continuous Voter Registration in Edo State were available for collection at two levels: first, across all 192 wards from Thursday, 22 August to Monday, 26 August 2024; and second, at our 18 LGA offices.
“The Commission is pleased to announce the conclusion of the collection at the ward level. Learning from past experiences, we carefully packaged all the PVCs by polling units, wards, and LGAs. We also produced a collection register, detailing the voters whose cards were ready for collection, and uploaded this information to our website.
“In addition, we contacted voters using the addresses provided at the time of registration. As a result, out of the 184,438 new PVCs available, 125,928 cards were collected by voters, representing 68.3% of the total. This is the highest percentage of PVCs collected in five days since the Commission introduced the CVR ahead of off-cycle governorship elections in 2015.
“A detailed breakdown of the collection by LGAs has been uploaded to our website and social media platforms for public information,” the statement read in part.
INEC announced that the collection process will move to its 18 Local Government Area (LGA) offices in Edo State, where voters can pick up their PVCs from 28 August to 8 September 2024.
INEC has made detailed information about the locations of its LGA offices available on its website, encouraging voters who have not yet collected their PVCs to do so as soon as possible.
Olumekun stated, “Meanwhile, the collection will resume at our 18 LGA offices in Edo State from Wednesday, 28 August 2024, and end on Sunday, 8 September 2024.
“We appeal to the remaining voters to pick up their PVCs in person from our LGA offices. The Commission reiterates its policy that no cards will be collected by proxy. Detailed information on the locations of our LGA offices is already available on our website.”
