Gambia Electoral StudiesLearnHow to vote

A picture guide for every voter

How to vote, in pictures

Ten steps, from your voter’s card to the results. Each step has a picture, one short sentence and a button that reads it aloud. Go through it with someone who reads little, at home, in class or at a community meeting.

The next presidential election is on Saturday 5 December 2026, the date in the IEC’s Presidential Election Operational Plan.

Gambian Sign Language Proposed

Videos in Gambian Sign Language are planned for every step, to be recorded with the Gambia Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (proposed). CRPD does not make up signs: a step shows a video only when one has been recorded and checked, with the name of the person who signs it.

No videos yet.

Before polling dayStep 1

Step 1 of 10 · Before polling day

Register with the IEC and keep your voter’s card safe.

Where this comes from: Elections Act 2025, ss. 13, 24(3) and 37

More about this step

To register you must be a Gambian citizen, aged 18 or over by election day, and live in or have been born in the constituency. Bring one of these: a birth certificate, a Gambian passport, a national identity card, or a letter from your Alkalo or Seyfo saying that you are Gambian. Only you may use your card. If it is lost or damaged, you can ask the IEC for a new one, except in the period before an election that the IEC fixes.

For 2026: the IEC replaces lost, damaged or mutilated voter cards free of charge from 1 to 15 November 2026, at all ten IEC Election Offices, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day including weekends. Go to any IEC office, wherever you registered. Cards from the 2021 registration and the 2026 supplementary registration are covered (IEC press release, 29 October 2026).

Read the law

Section 13: Qualifications for registration as a voter

(1) A person is entitled to have his or her name entered on the register of voters in a Constituency if he or she – (a) is a citizen of The Gambia; (b) has attained, or will attain on the date of the holding of the next election, the age of eighteen years; and (c) is resident or was born in that Constituency.

(2) The Commission shall register a person’s name on the register of voters in a Constituency, if he or she produces any one of the following documents - (a) a birth certificate; (b) a Gambian passport; (c) a National Identity Card, or (d) an attestation from an Alkalo or Seyfo certifying that he or she is a Gambian.

Section 24: Issuing of voter’s cards

(3) A voter’s card issued to a claimant under sub-section (2) shall - (a) only be used by the claimant;

Section 37: Replacement of voter’s cards

(1) A voter who claims that his or her card is lost, stolen, destroyed, mutilated or defaced, may apply in writing to the Commission to replace the card.

(7) The Commission shall, by Order published in the Gazette, determine the period immediately before the holding of an election when no application for a replacement of a voter’s card shall be entertained.

From CRPD’s copy of the Elections Act 2025, as printed.

On polling daySteps 2 to 9

Step 2 of 10 · On polling day

On polling day, go to the polling station where you registered.

Where this comes from: Elections Act 2025, ss. 54(1), 58(3), 65(1) and 70

Find my polling station

More about this step

You can vote only at the polling station where you are registered. The IEC publishes the list of polling stations in the Gazette. On polling day the law bans campaigning, clothes showing a candidate or a party symbol, and gathering in groups, except to queue to vote.

Read the law

Section 58: Admission to polling stations

(3) A person shall not be admitted to vote at a polling station other than where he or she is registered as a voter.

Section 54: Polling centres and polling stations

(d) publish in the Gazette a notice specifying the - (i) polling centres established for each Constituency;

Section 70: Prohibitions on polling day

On any day on which polling is to take place in an electoral division, the following shall be prohibited in that area -

(f) canvassing; (g) wearing of apparel depicting a candidate or political party symbol;

(j) gathering in groups, except for the purpose of joining a queue to cast a ballot;

From CRPD’s copy of the Elections Act 2025, as printed.

Step 3 of 10 · On polling day

Queue calmly: elders, the sick, people with disabilities and pregnant or nursing mothers go first.

Where this comes from: Elections Act 2025, ss. 64 and 67

More about this step

Polls open at 8 in the morning and close at 5 in the afternoon. At 5, a security officer makes sure that nobody new joins the queue. The Presiding Officer gives priority to the candidates, pregnant or nursing women, people with disabilities, the elderly and the sick.

Read the law

Section 64: Commencement and close of polls

(1) Polls at all polling stations shall commence at 8 a.m and close at 5p.m.

(3) At 5:00pm, the Presiding Officer shall assign a security officer on election duty to ensure that no other person joins the queue to vote.

Section 67: Priority of voting

In the casting of votes, the Presiding Officer shall give priority to – (a) the candidates contesting the elections; (b) pregnant or lactating women; (c) persons with disabilities; and (d) the elderly and the sick.

From CRPD’s copy of the Elections Act 2025, as printed.

Step 4 of 10 · On polling day

Show your voter’s card, and the Presiding Officer finds your name in the register.

Where this comes from: Elections Act 2025, s. 65(1) to (4)

More about this step

The officer checks that your card is genuine and that your name is in the register for this polling station. Nobody may get a token in another person’s name, and nobody may get a second one.

Read the law

Section 65: Method of voting

(1) A voter desiring to record his or her vote shall present himself or herself together with his or her voter’s card to the Presiding Officer at the polling station allotted to him or her.

(3) The Presiding Officer shall verify, in such manner as he or she considers fit, the authenticity of the voter’s card presented to him or her before he or she delivers a ballot token to the voter.

(4) Where a voter – (a) is not the same person whose name is on the register of voters; or (b) has already voted at the election, the Presiding Officer shall not give him or her a ballot token.

From CRPD’s copy of the Elections Act 2025, as printed.

Step 5 of 10 · On polling day

The officer marks the register, signs the back of your card and puts ink on your finger.

Where this comes from: Elections Act 2025, s. 65(5)

More about this step

The law says this happens just before you receive your token. The ink is indelible: it does not wash off, and it shows that you have voted, so that nobody can vote twice.

Read the law

Section 65: Method of voting

(5) Immediately before delivering a ballot token to a voter, the Presiding officer shall – (a) make a mark against the name of the voter on his or her copy of the register of voters to denote that the voter has received a ballot token; (b) sign and date the reverse of the voter’s card; and (c) ensure that the voter’s thumb or other finger is marked with an indelible ink as an indication that the voter has voted.

From CRPD’s copy of the Elections Act 2025, as printed.

Step 6 of 10 · On polling day

You receive one token: a small glass marble.

Where this comes from: Elections Act 2025, ss. 62 and 65(2); Hughes and Perfect 2006, p. 143

More about this step

The law calls it a ballot token, and every token at a polling station is the same. Gambians have voted with marbles since the election of 1960.

Read the law

Section 62: Ballot tokens

(1) The votes at the poll shall be cast by ballot and the ballot of each voter shall consist of a token (referred to in this Act as a “ballot token”).

(2) All ballot tokens used in any particular polling station shall be identical in all respects.

From CRPD’s copy of the Elections Act 2025, as printed.

Step 7 of 10 · On polling day

Go behind the screen alone: your vote is secret.

Where this comes from: Elections Act 2025, ss. 65(9) and 66

More about this step

Only one voter goes behind the screen at a time. If you cannot read or write, or you need help because of age, blindness or another physical reason, tell the Presiding Officer: a person you choose, aged 18 or over, may help you. Polling agents, the Presiding Officer and security officers may not help you vote.

Read the law

Section 65: Method of voting

(9) Subject to section 66, only one voter shall be allowed in a screened compartment at any one time

Section 66: Assisted voters

(1) On the request of a voter who declares that he or she is unable to read or write, or who is incapacitated by reason of age, blindness or other physical cause from voting in the manner prescribed under this Part, the Presiding Officer shall permit the voter to be assisted by a person of the voter’s choice.

(3) The person chosen by the voter may not be qualified to vote but shall have attained the age of eighteen years.

(6) A polling agent, Presiding Officer or security officer on election duty shall not help a voter to vote.

From CRPD’s copy of the Elections Act 2025, as printed.

Step 8 of 10 · On polling day

Drop your marble into the drum of the candidate you choose.

Where this comes from: Elections Act 2025, ss. 63 and 65(6) and (7)

More about this step

Each drum shows the name and the symbol of one candidate. You have one vote, for one candidate. Before voting starts, the drums are shown empty to everyone present and then sealed.

Read the law

Section 65: Method of voting

(6) A voter shall record his or her vote by putting his or her ballot token into the ballot drum bearing the name and representative symbol of the candidate for whom he or she wishes to vote.

(7) Each voter shall have only one vote and shall not vote for more than one candidate at an election.

Section 63: Ballot drums

(a) immediately before the commencement of a poll at a polling station, exhibit each of the empty ballot drums to such persons as may be present at the polling station; (b) seal up all the ballot drums,

From CRPD’s copy of the Elections Act 2025, as printed.

Step 9 of 10 · On polling day

When you have voted, leave the polling station and go home in peace.

Where this comes from: Elections Act 2025, ss. 61, 65(8) and 70(j)

More about this step

The law asks every voter to vote without delay and to leave as soon as they have voted. Gathering in groups is not allowed on polling day, except to queue to vote.

Read the law

Section 65: Method of voting

(8) Each voter shall vote without undue delay and quit the polling station as soon as he or she has voted.

Section 61: Directions on voting

(c) when you have recorded your vote, leave the polling station”.

From CRPD’s copy of the Elections Act 2025, as printed.

After the voteStep 10

Step 10 of 10 · After the vote

Votes are counted in the open, and only the IEC declares the results.

Where this comes from: Elections Act 2025, ss. 73, 75(1) and 81(2)

More about this step

After the polls close, the drums are opened at the polling station and the tokens are counted in front of the agents, observers and the media. The IEC then declares the final result. Results shared before the IEC declares them are not official. CRPD’s observers watch how the vote is run; they never announce results.

Read the law

Section 73: Counting centres

The counting of votes shall take place at each polling station under the direction of the Presiding Officer in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

Section 75: Counting of votes

(1) The Presiding Officer shall - (a) make arrangements for counting of votes at each polling station in the presence of the counting agents, accredited media representatives and party representatives, observers and security officers, as soon as practicable at the close of the polls;

Section 81: Transmission and declaration of results

(2) The Commission shall, as soon as practicable on receipt of election results from the polling centres, compile the results and declare the – (a) final result; and (b) candidate elected.

From CRPD’s copy of the Elections Act 2025, as printed.

Where this comes from

Every rule on this page comes from the text of the Elections Act 2025 (CRPD’s copy of the Act as printed). Each step names its sections; open “More about this step” to read them. The Act’s number, date of assent and Gazette reference are not yet verified by CRPD.
The ink: for elections, the Act says the finger is inked just before the voter receives the token (s. 65(5)), and this guide follows that order. For a referendum the Act puts the ink after the vote (s. 137(2)).
The marble: the Act says “ballot token”, and the IEC makes Rules on the design of tokens (s. 150(2)(i)). The drum and marble method was devised for the election of 1960 and has been used ever since (Hughes and Perfect 2006, p. 143). Read why The Gambia votes with marbles.
On polling day, follow the IEC’s posters and the Presiding Officer. The IEC can give more detailed directions to voters (ss. 61 and 150).
The date of the election: the IEC’s Presidential Election Operational Plan, posted on iec.gm on 7 October 2026.
The pictures were drawn by CRPD for this guide. The people in them are invented, and the drums carry plain shapes, not the symbols or colours of any party or candidate.
CRPD is a non partisan observer. Its observers watch how the vote is run and never announce results; only the IEC declares them.

How to cite this page

Center for Research and Policy Development (CRPD) (2026). How to vote, in pictures. Gambia Electoral Studies. https://crpd-elections.web.app/voteguide.html

Accessible polling places The rules of the game

PractisePractise votingTwo minutes, from the queue to the bell, with practice candidates. Election CenterWhere is my polling station?Type your village or ward: polling place, hours and directions. AccessAccessible polling placesAccess for voters with disabilities, and their rights. HistoryWhy marblesThe drum and marble method since 1960. Election CenterThe 2026 electionCandidates, the calendar and the voter guide.

A picture guide · The Gambia

How to vote

Scan to listen to each step, with sign language videos as they are recorded

1Register with the IEC and keep your voter’s card safe.

2On polling day, go to the polling station where you registered.

3Queue calmly: elders, the sick, people with disabilities and pregnant or nursing mothers go first.

4Show your voter’s card, and the Presiding Officer finds your name in the register.

5The officer marks the register, signs the back of your card and puts ink on your finger.

6You receive one token: a small glass marble.

7Go behind the screen alone: your vote is secret.

8Drop your marble into the drum of the candidate you choose.

9When you have voted, leave the polling station and go home in peace.

10Votes are counted in the open, and only the IEC declares the results.

From the Elections Act 2025, ss. 13, 24, 58, 61 to 67, 70, 73, 75 and 81. On polling day, follow the IEC’s posters and the Presiding Officer. Only the IEC declares the results. Center for Research and Policy Development (CRPD), Gambia Electoral Studies, crpd-elections.web.app/voteguide.html · CC BY 4.0 · Pictures drawn by CRPD; the people are invented and the drums carry shapes, not party symbols.