This billboard on a Freetown street reminds people to vote on Election Day. Billboards that I saw in Sierra Leone use mostly pictures to convey their message, presenting a clear image which is important in trying to reach the intended audience, especially for illiterate people. Some billboards portrayed quite graphic images of scenes intended to educate the populace about rape.  I was startled to see these posters of men grabbing young girls with the caption, “Rape is a crime".
The 2007 Presidential and Parliamentary Election is known to be the first election under the full sovereign control of the Sierra Leonean Government.  There was a high voter turnout for the election, but I don’t know how much the “Vote” billboards influenced turnout. It was so high that, according to Christiana Thorpe—Chairperson of National Electoral Commission (NEC)—some polling stations had turnouts over 100%. The Commission invalidated all results from those polling stations since it is quite impossible to have a turnout over 100% without fraud or illegal action. At first, this might seem like a negative thing. However, this demonstrates that the country is tolerating less illegal action and fraud. Apart from the extreme turnouts, the average national turnout was 68.09%, which is still considered high.

*the election result information is taken from the National Electoral Commission website.