The registration process for the 2024 general elections in the Serowe District has seen positive progress, with 108 polling stations registering over 4,000 voters in a span of three days from January 5 to 7, according to Ms. Angelinah Leano, the district commissioner, in an interview with BOPA on Wednesday. While acknowledging the success of the exercise, Ms. Leano highlighted several challenges encountered during the registration period. One major issue was the need to find replacements for 23 registration officers who had withdrawn from the process. The reasons for their withdrawal included civil servants going on transfers, pursuing further studies, and youths seizing job opportunities. To address this, Ms. Leano mentioned that a training session for the new registration officers was conducted on January 3, following which the Independent Electoral Commission officially gazetted them. Another challenge faced was the difficulty in reaching certain areas due to limited mobile network coverage. This compelled supervisors to physically visit polling stations to collect registration statistics. However, Ms. Leano pointed out that shortage of transport and the distant locations made these visits challenging, particularly in seven places in Serowe South, eight in both Serowe North and West. Additionally, there were issues with the mobile toilet supplier, who failed to provide toilets in some areas. Ms. Leano expressed optimism that the matter would be resolved promptly. Changes in the dates for the registration exercise posed a challenge in locating polling stations, which were originally intended to be in schools. With schools now reopened, the polling stations had to be relocated to guard rooms, culture rooms, and old staffrooms due to a shortage of tents. Ms. Leano mentioned that assistance was sought from other constituencies to overcome this challenge. Concerns were raised about voters attempting to register in areas not designated as their places of residence. To address this, three vehicles with public announcement systems per constituency were deployed to mobilize voters, remind them of registration requirements, and discourage improper registrations. Ms. Leano urged citizens to assist senior citizens in checking the expiration dates of their identity cards, as two cases of expired ID cards were identified during the registration process. She noted that, at this stage, a significant portion of registrants were older individuals. Regular meetings were reported to be taking place between supervisors and registration officers to understand challenges and devise solutions across all three constituencies.