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Confirm that you are actually registered to vote. Even though you have registered it is definitely worth confirm that you are actually registered to vote, so if there any problems with your registration you can sort these out before turning up at the polling station on March 4th, this can be done at on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission webpage http://vote.iebc.or.ke/ click on the “confirm registration” tab and follow the instructions.
Find your polling station on the same link above IEBC has a ‘Find a Polling Station’ tool that allows voters to find their nearest polling station via Google maps, make sure that their polling place is correct.
Get to know the candidates and the position they are vying for. By this point campaign exhaustion has probably set in the and your probably tired of hearing the Presidential candidates bicker and back and forth, throw insults and make accusations against each other. However while most of us are aware of who is running for President, Senator and Governor, (their campaigns have been more out there) how much do we really know about the candidates running for Member of Parliament, or Ward Representative?
With devolution these representatives matter a great deal and are likely to be making decisions that influence our lives on a daily basis more than we imagine. And it maybe is easy to automatically throw your support behind your chosen Presidential candidates party simply because you’re familiar the candidate or the party but that means that you will be choosing your candidates blindly. In fact it is probably the populations general lack knowledge of who is running for the seats that has driven some of the parties to ask for a ‘six piece vote’.
It is definitely worthwhile to take the time to research every candidate from every party to see what they stand and what they propose to do for you. To find out who the aspirants for various seats and their job descriptions are here http://info.mzalendo.com
Study the issues. Though it may seem so, elections are not just about candidates they are about issues. Apart from voting a particular candidate we are also voting particular values, constitutional implementation, taxation, education, health, infrastructure, employment etc. The issues are probably the most confusing part the elections: in campaign speeches politicians seem to make wide sweeping non-specific promises which we have heard before, and the party manifestos seem quite similar and misleading with no explanation of how these grand promises will be brought into fruition, or how they will be paid for. It would be interesting if on the 25th February Presidential debate the candidates be asked to explains their propositions in simple language, lay out pros and cons for some of the issues, and how they plan to fund these propositions.
Make a plan to actually turn up to vote
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