Kenya’s general election on August 9 highlighted shortcomings in the country’s approach to teaching the public about voting and civics.
Over 100,000 Kenyans awoke at ungodly hours to wait in line for several hours before casting their votes in the just-concluded, very disputed elections.
To their surprise, however, exercising their right to vote in the election of new leaders required little effort on their side. Their eyes were shielded from this fact.
The final total of votes by the IEBC showed that 113,614 Kenyans voted, but their ballots were never counted.
A rejected ballot is one that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission has determined cannot be counted because the voter marked it improperly.
Indicators of such behavior include the presence of many marks on a ballot, the inability to ascertain the voter’s intent, and the possibility of identifying the voter from the mark on the ballot.
The IEBC has stated that during the voter education period, ballots that do not have the IEBC stamp on the back will likewise be considered invalid.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) reports that 12,869 ballots were disqualified in Nairobi county during the election. This includes ballots that did not have the IEBC stamp on the back.
Kiambu County came in second, but it lost because 5,635 ballots were counted as invalid. Mombasa County, Kakamega County (5,562), Bungoma County (5,516), and Nakuru County (5,516) also have a significant amount of illegitimate votes (5,503). Among the votes cast in Meru County, 4,809 were deemed to be illegitimate (3,812).
Only 340 votes were disqualified in Samburu County, while 44 were disqualified in Diaspora County.
In addition, the electoral commission has said that if a vote is being claimed by more than one contender or agent, the Presiding Officer will tally the vote in favor of one candidate and designate it as “disputed,” even though no ballots were tallied as disputed votes in the August elections.
According to the IEBC, the Returning Officer will make the final decision on the vote.
Source
https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2022-08-18-concern-as-over-100000-votes-are-rejected-ballots/