http://thejournalish.com/ojs/index.php/jde <p>Journal of Democracy and elections is the official journal published by <a href="http://thejournalish.com/ojs/index.php/prodel/management/settings/thejournalish.com">CV The Journal Publishing</a> in cooperation with Indonesian Youth Movement on Democracy and Elections (IMYDE) / Gerakan Pemuda Kawal Pemilu dan Demokrasi (GPKPD) and Association of Indonesian Bachelor in International Relations (AIBIRs) / Perkumpulan Sarjana Hubungan Internasional Indonesia (PaSHII). This journal serves as a medium to disseminate scientific papers or literature reviews of development of democracy and elections i.e. electoral systems, electoral stages, voting behavior, election management bodies, election financing, election technology, the electoral justice system, political representation and political parties as well as other contemporary issues on elections.<br /><br />The Publication of this journal is aimed to contribute to the development of democracy and electoral governance in Indonesia, regions and international level. Published twice a year, the journal's Editorial Board consist of experts, scholars, practitioners from top rank universities in Indonesia, regions and the world. Editors will select every manuscript submitted to the journal using the blind reviewer mechanism from peer reviewers appointed by editors. Reviewers of this journal come from national and international experts on democracy and elections from universities/academic institutions and practitioners.</p> The Journal Publishing en-US Journal of Democracy and Elections http://thejournalish.com/ojs/index.php/jde/article/view/329 <p>Elections have become the prerequisite of democratic governance in most countries. In pursuit of this democratic imperative, Ghana has conducted eight (8) successive elections since the inception of the Fourth Republic. In the quest to seek continuous improvement, the Election Management Body of Ghana has over the years implemented various policies to give citizens the right to vote to choose leaders. However, notwithstanding the relentless effort to improve the electoral process, the incidence of rejected ballots poses risk to the democratic value of elections. The quantum of rejected ballots sometimes is enough to push the elections into a runoff. &nbsp;Apart from the financial and economic costs to the nation, runoff elections birthed by rejected ballots creates tensions and anxiety with the tendency to threaten the peace and security of countries. The study adopted a descriptive exploratory research design to find out the effect of rejected ballots on electoral outcomes and the factors that account for the incidence of rejected ballots in Ghana’s elections. The study revealed that factors such as protest voting, ignorance of the voting system, the structure and design of ballot papers, illiteracy of voters, and political biases of electoral officers as responsible for the causes of rejected ballots. The study further revealed a strong correlation between rejected ballots and electoral democracy. The study also recommends measures that must be implemented by stakeholders to curb the incidence of rejected ballots to safeguard the efficacy of democratic elections.</p> Joseph Kwaku Asamoah Copyright (c) 2022 Journal of Democracy and Elections 2022-12-01 2022-12-01 1 1 LAYOUTING LAYOUTING