INEC to x-ray functionality of new voting technology system

Following the challenges encountered during the recent Anambra State Governorship election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it will take a critical look at functionality of the newly introduced Bimodal Voter accreditation System (BVAS).

This is as the electoral umpire was waiting for official report of Anambra governorship election which took place last Saturday.

In addition, the Commission said it will run another litmus test with the technology in the upcoming bye-elections and chairmanship elections in the Federal Capital Territory.

In a statement, on on Thursday by the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee. Barrister Festus Okoye, He stated that:. “The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) met today Thursday 11th November 2021 and conducted an initial review of the Anambra Governorship election.

“The Commission is awaiting the reports of all officials deployed for the election for an indepth review of the processes.”

“However, after the supplementary election in Ihiala Local Government Area on Tuesday 9th November 2021 and before the process was concluded, the Commission commenced a preliminary review of the functionality of systems, particularly the newly introduced Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

“The system performed two functions on election day. First is the accreditation of voters using both the fingerprint and facial authentication. Secondly, it snaps the polling unit level result sheets and uploads them in real-time to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.

This aspect of the BVAS functionality performed optimally such that by the early hours of Sunday morning, results from 4,987 (88.5%) out of 5,634 polling units had been upoladed for public view. While still in the field, our ICT team responded to the identified glitches in the accreditation of voters and corrected them.

“Consequently, in the Ihiala supplementary election, there were no reported incidents of BVAS malfunction. We will carry out an in-depth examination of the system, review reports from accredited observers and the media and respond to all identified challenges ahead of the next major Area Council election in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), holding on 12th February 2022

“We shall again test run the system in the bye-election (s) that may arise before then. The Commission remains convinced that despite some glitches experienced in Anambra State Governorship election, the deployment of technology in elections is better than the best manual process”