For the 2012 General Elections, the Electoral Commission decided to introduce the Biometric Voters Register (BVR) and phase out the old Voters’ Register. A lot of people did not understand what the biometric voter registration was about; there were also rumours that the biometric registration causes cancer; a lot of Ghanaians initially did not know that the old register was being phased out and people who failed to register during the 40-day exercise would not get the chance to vote in December; moreover, the was very little information about the schedule for the Biometric Voter Registration.

As part of Ghana Decides’ activities towards election 2012, a campaign called #iRegistered was launched on 24th March 2012. #iRegistered was an online and offline campaign to get eligible Ghanaians to register in the  biometric voter registration exercise from March 24 – May 5 2012. The campaign focused on providing information and encouraging the youth, especially young women and eligible first-time registrants through peer-to-peer approach to register. Since voters’ registration is not a continuous exercise in Ghana, the #iRegistered Campaign aims to get eligible Ghanaians to go out and brace the sometimes harsh weather and long queues to get their names on the Voters’ Register.

4 steps;

1. Ghana Decides provided information on the biometric registration on its website (http://ghanadecides.com) and also encouraged Ghanaians to check the Electoral Commission’s website (http://ec.gov.gh) and the Government of Ghana website (http://ghana.gov.gh) for information on the biometric registration exercise. Ghanaians we reached were urged to read, be informed and share this information with family, friends and people (especially the less privileged) in their communities.

2. Tweet or post a Facebook or Google+ update telling your friends and the world about the registration exercise and the need to register with the hashtags #iRegistered and #GhanaDecides.

3. Register when the exercise begins on the 24th of March and share your experience registering with the world by taking a picture when you are in the queue and most importantly, take a picture or shoot a video with your new biometric Voter’s ID card or blog about your experience and share on social media with the hashtags #iRegistered and #GhanaDecides; Posting a picture or video with your ID card will encourage others to go out and register.

4. Ghana Decides curated an album on http://flickr.com/GhanaDecides of over 500 pictures from across the country on the biometric registration exercise.

Volunteers from the various regions signed up to help pictures and spread the word. A little over 500 pictures from Sunyani, Berekum, Winneba, Tarkwa, Takoradi, Keta, Accra, Tamale, Navrongo and other towns in Ghana were shared.
#iRegistered caught the eye of both the local and foreign media;Mashable wrote an article after the campaign launch and interviewed Ghana Decides’ towards the end of the project;

http://mashable.com/2012/03/27/ghana-voter-registration-social-media/

Aljazeera feature #iRegistered

http://youtu.be/hZtvBMqOAFw

From a humble launch in Winneba to a tweetup in Accra to engagements with Ghanaians across the country, Ghana Decides became a resource and provided information on the schedule, eligibility, incidences, among other queries.