By Seyi Babalola
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) would be collected in all 203 wards beginning Thursday, ahead of the Ondo State governorship election.
The Commission emphasized that at this time, the backlog of uncollected PVCs from earlier registrations would also be accessible for collection at the specified locations.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, said in a statement issued Monday that detailed information, including the location addresses of Ward and Local Government collection centres, has been uploaded to its website and social media platforms for public use.
Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, in a statement issued Monday, said detailed information, including location addresses of the Ward and Local Government collection centres, have been uploaded to its website and social media platforms for public information.
The Commission appealed to registered voters in the state to pick up their PVCs in person on the approved dates and also reiterated its policy that no cards would be collected by proxy.
Olumekun said: “The Commission was pleased to announce that following the conclusion of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in Ondo State and the cleaning up of the data, PVCs have been printed for all certified registrants and already delivered to our State office in Akure for collection by eligible voters.
“The PVCs for all categories of applicants will be available for collection in 221 centres across the state at two levels.
“First, in all the 203 Wards from Thursday 17th to Monday 21st October 2024. Secondly, in our 18 LGA offices from Wednesday 23rd to Tuesday 29th October 2024 from 9.00am to 5.00pm daily (including the weekends).
“A total of 89,777 new PVCs from the recent CVR were printed. This is made up of 58,708 new voters, and 31,069 applicants for transfers, updates and replacement of lost and damaged PVCs.
“The PVCs for all categories of applicants will be available for collection in 221 centres across the State at two levels. First, in all the 203 Wards from Thursday 17th to Monday 21st October 2024. Secondly, in our 18 LGA offices from Wednesday 23rd to Tuesday 29th October 2024 from 9.00am to 5.00pm daily (including the weekends).”
Olumekun added that in addition to pasting the register of new voters for each centre at the designated locations, the Commission was also uploading the entire collection register for the new voters on its website to facilitate easy identification of names and collection centres for the seamless collection of the PVCs.
