Females spend hours finding poll centers

MAKKAH: After spending six hours searching for the women’s polling centers in the 6th circuit on Monday night, voter Sadia Janbi was forced to appeal to the Makkah police department for assistance.
Sadia says she searched for hours, seeking assistance from residents in the area, but no one could point her to the location of two schools determined as polling stations by the Makkah Municipality. To her surprise, officers at the police department also knew nothing of the location of these stations, local media reported.
Finally, she says, she was able to locate it with the help of one resident, but arrived well after the working shift had ended.
Voter Dalal Abdullah Kaaki faced the same problem, after she spent close to two hours looking for the 4th circuit polling station in the Iskan neighborhood, despite relying on the electronic maps provided.
She was quoted as saying that she finally ended up at the polling station in Al-Hijra neighborhood, which is located outside the circuit in which she lives, and was able to obtain information from an employee there.
According to Ahmed Hikmat, head of the technical team at the Committee of Municipal Elections in Makkah, the committee identified voting locations in booklets and brochures that were distributed in numerous locations throughout the city. Signs and directions have also been put up on roads in the city, while the municipality provides guidance booklets to citizens as needed, he said. Citizens can also obtain information via the the applications of the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and the local committee at the Makkah municipality, as well as by calling the election hotline (199040), visiting social networking sites, and using electronic maps that rely on a GPS and Internet connection.