Assistant Electoral Commissioner Lefau Francis Ainu’u says Savai’i is ready for the general election scheduled for Friday.

He said the ballot boxes for the different constituencies on the big island have been dispatched and officials have been assigned to the different polling stations.

“This is the first stage of the General Election for Savaii, we have assigned each ballot box for each constituency and people were dispatched since the chartered ferry [Lady Naomi] from Matautu to Salelologa,” he said. 

The Ministry of Police and Prisons has also increased police presence on the island with Lefau praising the Ministry for being proactive in the countdown to polling.

“The Police are top notch in terms of executing its duties pertaining to the election,” he told the Samoa Observer. 

“They are very professional and I think they have been preparing for this. It's evident that they are prioritising, not only the safety of everyone, but also the integrity of the elections. “They are on top of their game.”

He added the Police are also doing “surveillance” of the polling booths and more than 300 police officers will be on duty during polling in Savai’i.

A IT officer will also be part of the electoral team and will be in charge of identifying the voters in a bid to identify duplicate profiles. 

“This is something new, in the past polling officials have to go through the electoral roll to look for a name once you show up to vote,” added Lefau.

“But now all they need to do is give out their name, the system will automatically bring all the information, names, photos and this will expedite the process to ensure that it is efficient.

“Also this system is able to determine whether this is you showing up to vote and mind you tomorrow there will be scruiteneers or secretaries for the candidates will also view and verify this information.

“There are 100 polling stations in Savai’i and 200 ballot boxes.”

Explaining the different sizes of the ballot boxes and the rationale behind those specifications, Lefau said the boxes have distinctive roles.

“There is a big box for ordinary votes and the small box is for the special votes for the polling officials and so they are from different constituencies. 

“The polling officials will also vote and they will use the small boxes which will not be opened during the count after the election.

The special votes will only be counted on Saturday, sorted into constituencies and it will be included with the official count on Monday.”

The polling stations will Friday at 8am and close by 3pm.