By Folorunso Alagbede, Abuja
Ahead of the forthcoming Anambra State governorship election, among others, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has assured that the technological device it intends to use, particularly the Z-pad, will help to eliminate the possibility of voting by identity theft using another person’s PVC.
The Chairman of INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu disclosed this yesterday at the third quarterly meeting with media organizations in Abuja.
The introduction of the machine-readable PVC combined with the Smart Card Reader (SCR), Prof Yakubu said, were important innovations as well as the uploading of polling unit results in real-time on Election Day.
The Commission, the Chairman pointed out, is aware that technology always advance with the passage of time and as a Commission, “we must keep pace with that reality”.
Yakubu explained that the decision to
suspend the idea of using Z-pad for recently held elections in some parts of the country was to enable the commission to do some more work, stressing that it (the Z-pad) was therefore only used to upload Polling Unit results to the IReV portal during those elections.
The Chairman of INEC said, “While working on the register of voters, the Commission has also been continuously innovating on how to strengthen the credibility of voter accreditation and result management process during elections in Nigeria.
“As always, the deployment of appropriate technology is crucial and desirable.
“The introduction of the machine-readable PVC combined with the Smart Card Reader (SCR) were important innovations. So too is the uploading of polling unit results in real-time on Election Day.
“However, the Commission is aware that technology always advances with the passage of time and as a Commission, we must keep pace with that reality.
“For some time, many stakeholders, including the media, have called on the Commission to strengthen the voter accreditation process during elections, especially with reference to the use of incident form where the SCR fails to authenticate the fingerprints of voters. “Such concern is legitimate given the fact that the SCR (smart card reader) successfully verifies any card that belongs to the polling unit for which it is configured irrespective of who presents it.
“Their apprehension, therefore, is that by using the incident form to cover those whose fingerprints are not authenticated by the SCR, a voter may be able to use another person’s PVC to vote during an election.
“To address this concern, the Commission attempted to introduce the facial biometric authentication during accreditation using the Z-Pad tablet to complement the fingerprint process through the Card Reader before the Edo Governorship election in September 2020.
“However, the Commission was not satisfied with the pilot held in the Nasarawa Central State Constituency bye-election held a month earlier in August 2020.
“We therefore suspended the idea to enable us to do some more work.
“The Z-pad was therefore only used to upload Polling Unit results to the IReV portal during elections.
“Over the last one year, we reviewed the situation and we think we have found the appropriate technology to address the problem.
“The functionality of the Z-pad has now been integrated into the IVED currently used for voter registration.
“On Election Day, the same device will become the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to be used, first, for fingerprint authentication during accreditation and where it fails for facial authentication.
“We believe this will eliminate the possibility of voting by identity theft using another person’s PVC.
“Where the voter fails both the fingerprint and facial authentication, he/she will not be allowed to vote.
“Going forward, the mantra is: no electronic authentication, no voting.
“We are convinced that the new machine is robust enough to further guarantee the credibility of voter authentication and transparent management of results during elections.
“Accordingly, the Commission intends to carry out a pilot exercise using the new device in Delta State during the Isoko South 1 State Assembly constituency bye-election holding this weekend (Saturday 11th September 2021).
“The equipment will now perform the functions of both the SCR and Z-Pad in the bye-election.
“Thereafter, it will be deployed in the Anambra Governorship election in November.
“There will be a presentation of the new device and a practical demonstration of its functions at this meeting.
“As always, we will welcome your comments and suggestions on this innovation”, he said.
