GhanaElection 2008 Transfer of Votes A registered voter who at any time before a general election is resident for not less than two(2) months in a constituency other than that in which he/she is registered, may apply to the Returning Officer of the constituency where he/she is resident for his/her name to be entered on the transferred voters list of the constituency. A voter is not allowed to apply for a transfer unless the application is submitted not less than twenty-one(21) days before the date set for the election. An application for transfer must be done in person and not on someone's behalf. Another aspect of transfer of votes is done for the purpose of contesting an election, where an aspiring candidate is permitted by the election regulation to transfer his/her vote to where he/she intends to contest. This provision allows the candidate to transfer his/her vote not less than twenty-one(21) days to the last day of nomination. Several difficulties were encountered during 2008 elections where processing of transfers was done between constituencies and districts. For the 2004 elections, District Electoral Officers were instructed to bring with them to the information Technology Department all applications for transfer where a clearing house was set up to sort out all applications. This resulted in the preparation of transferred voters lists with applicants' pictures on polling station basis. The main problem with the processing of transfer voters lists for the 2004 elections was that some of the application forms could not be processed because of incomplete polling station codes and errors in voter ID card numbers. The Commission in 2008 decided to avert or minimize problems associated with transfer of votes in the past by requesting regional directors to forward all transfer applications to the Information Technology Department for an accurate computerization. This was strictly adhered to but in the end the lists generated by the I.T Department did not include all the applicants on the manually prepared lists submitted by District Electoral Officers. Despite the guidelines for the transfer of votes, attempts were made by political parties to abuse the procedures. Indications were that voters who wanted to effect transfers were bussed from region to region, district to district and from constituency to constituency. The entire Central Region recorded 25,201 transfers with the Cape Coast Constituency being the 38