EC to issue voter location slips for 2021 elections

In preparation for voting in the general election, the Electoral Commission has announced that it will issue Voter Location Slips(VLS) to voters across the country to enable them conveniently locate their respective polling stations on polling day.

The chairperson of electoral body, Justice Simon Byabakama said in a statement that the VLS will be issued for a period of ten days, starting from Sunday January 3 to Tuesday January 13 2021 at each Parish/Ward across the country.

"The VLS is a response by the Electoral Commission to complaints raised in the past elections, where some voters reported difficulty in locating their polling stations.It bears the particulars of a voter, namely: photograph, names, date of birth, and location (that is, the district, constituency, sub county, parish and polling station),"said Byabakama.

He noted that the slip also bears a unique barcode which will be read by the biometric voter verification machines which will be deployed at all polling stations across the country.

"Please note that this Voter location slip (VLS) is free of charge and should only be picked by the voter in person from the Parish/Ward supervisor who is an employee of the commission,"he said.

Voters are further advised to carefully secure their VLS, so that the barcode is not tampered with.

"Please note that only a person whose particulars appear on the polling day register will be issued a VLS during this issuance exercise,"he stated.

He however said the voters’ register will be the primary document for the purpose of polling adding that a voter whose name is on the voters’ register but is unable to produce a VLS on polling day will be allowed to vote.