Biometric Voter Registration vs. Manual Registration

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) estimates that there will be up to 18 million Kenyans registered to vote in the country’s next election. And though not everyone may be clear on the type of reform our voter registration system needs, there is an almost universal recognition among voters, policy makers and even politicians of the urgent need to reform the way in which voters are registered.

The inefficiencies in the current voter registration system have a lot to do with our near exclusive dependence on a system of manual paper voter registration. In the 2007 general election, and as recently as the 2010 referendum on the constitution, millions of voters queued at registration booths to have their eligibility to vote manually determined by election officials.

From my recollection of getting my voters card for the 2010 referendum on constitution the registration process involved; an election official finding my name on an extensive print out of the voter list, when they found my name they checked my identification to see if it matched, then drew a line a cross my name, the official then had to, manually fill in a registration from, and hand write my identification information on my voters card. I imagine that this hand written, information is passed onto data entry people, who have to enter the hand written, and sometimes illegible information into a database that forms the final voters list.

This process has to be repeated for millions of voters. The margin for error or manipulation in the manual system of voter registration is great: the election official may mistakenly cross out the wrong name, wrongly enters information on the voter’s card, wrongly enter information of the voter registration form, misread an individuals ID, voters could be left of the list, or registered twice…the list is endless. It’s no wonder that voters’ lists for past elections, in which manual paper registration was used, contained a large number of duplicate or invalid registrations. That’s not say that automated biometric voter registration (BVR) is flawless. However biometric voter registration would reduce the inefficacies of a manual paper registration and would certainly rule out the option of “ghost” voters.

This week Minister Mutula Kilonzo was quoted as stating of the IEBC’s decision to scrap biometric voter registration and revert to manual registration that “It’s embarrassing in fact I wanted Kenya to not only have electronic voter registration but also electronic voting. It’s the only way to eliminate dead voters. Kenya is renowned for voter resuscitation more than Jesus! During elections dead people come to vote and people move voters from one location to another, which is completely unacceptable. Kenya cannot afford to go to elections where you open a window for allegations of rigging, vote theft and vote fraud…Parliament had voted money for electronic voter registration, to go back it will be taking Kenya back to - if you have won you have rigged and if you loose you have been rigged out.” I happen to agree with this statement.

However not everyone agrees that BVR is the way go. Last week Immigration Minister Otieno Kajwang is quoted as warning against the implementation of BVR in the next election because of the complexity of the BVR system, cautioning that the implementation of BVR could result in chaos stating, “Forget about thumb prints, forget about photographs, those are complex things that need a lot of time, a lot of patience and a lot of testing.”

Whichever side of the argument you fall on it should be remembered that whether or not the IEBC decides to revert to manual registration of voters, the Commission still needs to resolve the issues with its procurement processes.

What are your thoughts on the IEBC’s decision to revert from biometric voter registration to manual registration?

Posted by Mzalendo Editor on Aug. 6, 2012

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