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nairaland.net • View topic - Yet Another Case for E-Voting in Nigeria

Yet Another Case for E-Voting in Nigeria

Yet Another Case for E-Voting in Nigeria

Postby Richard Akindele » Wed Apr 19, 2006 6:16 pm

The responsibility of election administrators and the importance of their choice of voting systems go a long way in determining the conduct and performance of any election. As election administrators strive to uphold voter intent, the manner of actual authentication of registered voters, balloting, vote tabulation, collation and transmission of results is of paramount concern to any election administrative body. This body must remain focused on its plan in order not to flounder. It must appreciate distortive factors that would have an adverse impact on performance and take steps to annihilate them in our political institutions and ambience.

Currently, the Nigerian electoral landscape provides an atmosphere where financial means and brute force play a greater role in winning elections than does the will of the electorate, and where tyranny and injustice are institutionalized. People do not feel sufficiently empowered by their votes. Obviously, there is a need for electoral reforms to usher in a decent electoral system that will ensure Benthamite electoral welfare in Nigeria "that is, to paraphrase Hutchison's summary, the greatest number of electoral and democracy dividends for the greatest number of electorate and populace.

Most electoral problems as they exist are human and colossal in nature and could be attenuated by the introduction of the Electronic Voting System (EVS). The EVS as adopted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has four major components. They include:-

-The Electronic Voter Register (EVR) which makes use of computers that capture the names of all eligible voters. It eliminates multiple registration by any individual. A registered voter can confirm registration with his GSM phone or at INEC Local Government Offices nearest to him. Registration of eligible voters will no longer be something that happens in circumstances of a particular election propinquity. With the exception of the period of balloting, registration of eligible voters and deregistration of the dead would be a continuous exercise throughout the year at Local Government Offices. This would reduce costs and make recall of elected officials easier and more transparent. Mapping out of voters in EVR would be backed up by the Geographic Information System (GIS), which groups the population numerically within Polling Units, Wards and Local Government Areas (LGAs). The results would be subject to verification by Electoral Officers at the LGA levels. For constant updat e and for ease of administration of voter register, a separate directorate has been established at the Commission's National, State and LGA headquarters

-The Electronic Voter Authentication (EVA) machine which allows bio-metric (thumb and photo print) identification of a voter within a Polling Unit. It may be connected to the third component to enable it to accept or reject a ballot in accordance with its EVA status.

-The Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), a biocell battery-operated device, would confirm authentication and balloting with a paper trail. It would enable automatic collation and transmission of results, referred to as Electronic Transmission of Results (ETR).

-The ETR would enable automatic transmission of election results to INEC Headquarters at LGA, State and National levels by satellite.

This taxonomy of electronic voting devices and the procedural steps is what the Commission has referred to as its model of Electronic Voting System. The Commission currently has the capability to deploy the EVR, EVA and ETR. It is looking forward to expanding capacity in these areas.

In keeping with the INEC Chairman's style of "just in case" preparation, the balloting aspect of the EVS would involve twinning or parallel processes of the EVM and paper ballot devices. For pragmatic purposes, the Commission does not want to be reduced to sullen sulks by the vagaries of various balloting systems.

As it is, INEC will soon conduct pilot studies for various EVM options. The EVM finally chosen must be tamper-proof, audit-based and must have connectivity for voter authentication and transmission of results. What could be better than this in election management? One would have to clone oneself to beat the EVS as envisaged by INEC. If at all things were to go wrong, the blame would be squarely on the Commission.

One prevailing misconception regarding the upcoming elections is that the use of electronic voting would disenfranchise the "man on the street, who, being ignorant of the workings of high-powered electronics would not be able to vote. On the contrary, the EVM is image "rather than text-based and as such is illiterate" friendly. It is most unlikely that any voter would be unable to identify a picture of their desired candidates come election day.

Presently, with about 500,000 staff required to conduct elections in Nigeria, only 5,000 are permanent staff of INEC. This means that ninety-nine percent of the total number of election officials and their activities are not within the disciplinary control of the Commission. With non-participation of professionals and other highly respected members of society in election activities, poor masses unable to withstand financial pressure and physical abuse by wealthy politicians offer their services which often compromise election conduct and performance.

The EVS is designed to eliminate rigging carried out through multiple registration and voting, harassment of returning officers by hired thugs and snatching of ballot boxes. It would allow biometric, image-based authentication of the voting process with automatic result transmission to INEC offices. This, we believe, would enable the Commission to eliminate many of the sloppy and slipshod activities which have characterized elections in the past.

From history, election systems have been undergoing evolutional and architectural changes to enable election bodies deliver results. The paper ballot system dates back to 139 B.C. in Rome but was widely applied towards the late 18th century and modernized by the 1858 Australian Secret Ballot which standardized paper ballots preponderantly in use today. The late 1800's witnessed the use of the Lever Voting Machine. This system enabled votes to be tabulated by adding one to the counter behind each lever pulled. However, this system had its demerits as it did not allow for an independent record of each voter's ballot. In the early 1960's, the Punch-Card Machine was adopted for balloting. In this, voters marked ballots by punching a stylus through a small pre-scored rectangle. Occasionally, this technology led to discrepancies in voter intent. One can see that methods of balloting since the inception of democracy have been evolutionary and dynamic.

As I see it, the EVS is like a tide in the affairs of election administration which, when taken as a flood, leads to a stable democracy polity and fortune; omitted all the voyage of its life is bound in shallows and miseries, to paraphrase Shakespeare. On such a full sea, the EVS, INEC and indeed the nation are afloat. The Commission must take the tide now that it serves our purpose and venture.

- Dr. Ozoh is Principal Staff Officer to INEC Chairman, Prof. Maurice Iwu.
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