Come December 7, 2024, Ghanaian voters would have spent about one billion Ghana cedis in the 2024 election cycle.  The polls conducted by Data Insight Group of JOB Group Limited and Chartered Media Consult revealed that this was primarily due to traveling cost of about 17.0 per cent or the 2.9 million voters, who would be crisscrossing the country to vote for a candidate of choice at election day voting centers. It said with high unemployment rate, hovering around 24 per cent among voters, this was causing increasing political dissatisfaction and more than one person in every 10 voters with 50 per cent being female would also probably not vote or certainly not participate in the election.  Additionally, with about 15 per cent of voters remaining as students, the effect on conventional turnout and the consequences of economic hardship among this segment would impede voting participation. Mr Osei Boakye, managing partner of Chartered Media Consult, said, 'This is indeed a major concern since turnout rate wi ll potentially result in significant decline among younger voters who are financially the weakest link.' He said more than one in every ten voters firmly would not vote or probably would not vote. 'And although it may come with a long-term high cost, stakeholders for subsequent elections should consider voting reforms that will mitigate an increasing electoral apathy,' he said. He said an alternative was basically simplifying political election processes and making it more inclusive, especially among more vulnerable populations. 'It is interesting, exploring to what extent voting costs are driving voter turnout,' he added. Technically, participating in voting is a right and a way to shape the future of the country.  Overall, only about 34 per cent of voters understand that participation is a civic responsibility and about 5 per cent of all these respondents probably would not vote while the other 4 per cent remain undecided.  He said from now till December was an opportunity for strategic planning for voting stakeholders, campaign managers, and other party officials to go after such voters. At the same time, over 19 per cent of voters also understand that participating in the voting offers an opportunity to express issues important to them or belief in their vote's impact. Interestingly, however, while only 7 per cent of combined party members and party faithful do not like the candidates from all parties, more than 6 per cent of voters believe their vote makes no difference and only 4.4 per cent trust in the electoral system.  Other factors that will drive voters to vote or not include political beliefs, trust in the electoral system, concerns with the parties, religious beliefs and others missing registration. According to the polls, in spite of all the issues that would drive voters to participate in voting or not, the restriction of suffrage (the right to vote) of a person or group of people would additionally affect a very large number of voices and votes, causing remarkable decline in voter turno ut. It is still about 130 days away from voting and it is predicted that about 6.5 per cent or over 1.11 million eligible voters are currently disenfranchised and would not be able to vote come December. Obviously, the cost of elections can indeed be quite high however, the problems of disenfranchising voters clearly deny voter rights and can run deeper on election day when voters are turned away from the polls without being allowed to vote and with no opportunity to exercise civic responsibility. It is important to note that in every democracy, the government plays a significant role in providing public goods such as law and order, infrastructure, education, national defense and security as well as fire and environmental protection.  It is on these bases that voters assess government performance, he said.  Source: Ghana News Agency