vote

authentication, elections, enrollment, fingerprint, vote

United States: Happy Election Day!

Today is Election Day in the United States and — as I was reminded upon pulling in at our nearly-empty local parking garage — it’s a state holiday here in the State of West Virginia and also in Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and the territory of Puerto Rico.

While most of us, if we live in a representative democracy, think about election day as happening every so often. Other people are always thinking about elections, not from a partisan or even a political perspective but from the technical and scientific aspects of how to engineer better electoral mechanisms.

The E-Lected blog is the work of one group of people answering the description above. They do good work. Check them out by clicking their logo below.

e-lected blog (a view on electronic voting around the world).

Today they have a timely contribution: Technological solutions to the problems of voter authentication. The closing paragraph is quoted below but it’s well worth reading the whole thing, and if you’re interested in nuts-and-bolts electoral issues, e-lected is worth a regular visit.

As a blog advocating for the implementation of the electronic technologies to strengthen modern democracies, we are convinced that, if a polling station has a reliable electronic poll book with a robust database which includes biographic and biometric information of every eligible voter in, and the voters are authenticated by means of a fingerprint-based biometric device, both problems can be solved and election integrity and legitimacy guaranteed.

elections, Ghana, verification, vote, voter

Ghana testing biometric voter verification hardware

Biometric voter registration without verification leaves certain electoral risks (ballot stuffing, ballot destruction) unmitigated.

It looks like Ghana is aware of those risks and has seen fit to implement a biometric voting system that covers both ends of the electoral process.

EC to test biometric verification devices Nov. 3 and 4 (Modern Ghana)

Before ballot papers are issued to voters, their identities will first be verified “biometrically”. Thumbprints of voters will be captured by the verification devices and cross-checked against prints collected during the biometric registration exercise.

This is to establish whether a voter has indeed been captured on the voters’ register. Apart from the introduction of the verification device, the EC says it will also make use of the name reference list which indicates specific locations of voters on the register eliminating the task of flipping through the entire register to find a voter.

A post covering some of the nuts and bolts of why registration without verification could be inadequate is here. The issues are discussed within the Ghanaian context but they apply far more broadly.

Africa, elections, ID management, Kenya, vote

Kenya Elections: Many reasons for worry

The whole sad saga dating to September of last year is here.

Today’s news doesn’t inspire optimism that Kenya can deploy a successful biometric voter registration system (which, without voter verification, is really only half of a biometric election system anyway) by March.

The Biometric Voter Registration Kits are late.

Anxiety is also increasing due to several other factors that are well covered in Fear grows over delays in voter registration at the Kenya Standard.

That fear has grown to the point where public officials are publicly beginning to wonder whether there isn’t some conspiracy afoot that aims to delay elections. Placed against the historical backdrop of Kenya’s electoral experience — only three presidents since 1964, and many hundreds killed following the last presidential elections in 2007 — it’s no wonder Kenyans are starting to worry.

Correctly deployed and well managed biometric voting technology can be extremely helpful in bringing rigor and transparency to electoral systems at a cost that less developed countries can afford. Through careful planning and wise investments in technology, countries can build an affordable and rigorous ID infrastructure that strengthens democracy, which in turn opens the door to other benefits.

The systems themselves are technically complex but there are plenty of organizations like SecurLinx that can supply the technical expertise to implement them. The technical complexities, however, make up only a fraction of the overall bureaucratic load of running a decent election.

The logistical and human resources challenges are far larger and more expensive to address than the technical challenges of biometric systems.

Like we always say… Biometrics & ID management: it’s about people.

UPDATE: 
Kenya: Justice Minister Eugene Says Treasury Was Poll ‘Saboteur’ (All Africa)

Yesterday Prime Minister Raila Odinga chaired a crisis meeting at his office to resolve the delay in the procurement of the Biometric Voter Registration kits with the IEBC top officials, Finance minister Njeru Githae, Justice minister Eugene Wamalwa, Lands minister James Orengo and Treasury PS Joseph Kinyua among others.

However President Kibaki missed the meeting for a second time. On Tuesday Wamalwa accused “some people” of attempting to sabotage preparations for the polls.

“There was an anxiety and finger pointing that had started creeping in. The culprits I had in mind were actually the Treasury,” said Wamalwa who had promised to name the saboteurs.

elections, Kenya, vote, voter

Kenya Biometric Elections: A long way to go and a short time to get there.

Here’s the latest on Kenya’s efforts to build a biometric voter registration database by March.

Polls agency accuses AG of blocking cash for vote kit (Daily Nation)

Attorney-General Githu Muigai was on Sunday accused of holding up preparations for the election by refusing to authorise payment to a French company.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission said the registration of voters, which is two months behind schedule, remains in limbo until the AG gives Treasury the go-ahead to issues letters of credit (LC).

Until he does so, Biometric Voter Registration equipment cannot be delivered and no date can be set for the registration to begin.

Read the whole thing. Kenya has a long way to go and a short time to get there.

Brazil, elections, vote

Brazil takes another step toward nationwide biometric adoption for elections

Brazil: The numbers of a vigorous democracy (Jamaican Observer)

Initiated in the early 1990s, the use of electronic ballot boxes was implemented in the entire country in 2000, at the most remote localities, as well as abroad (where citizens voluntarily registered can vote for the resident). Security, durability and handling easiness are some of the characteristics of the Brazilian electronic ballot box, which makes possible the nearly immediate counting of votes.

Balloting security being one of the pillars of a truly democratic system, the Brazilian electoral justice has remained committed to the continued improvement of electoral processes and technologies. For instance, biometric ballot boxes were introduced for over seven million registered voters during the municipal elections. This feature should be extended to the entire country by 2018, an ambitious objective, bearing in mind the always increasing number of registered voters.

Brazil has been phasing in biometric elections for some time now, with the goal of nationwide adoption of biometrics for elections in 2018.

See:
Brazilian election biometrics have 93.5% success rate – and that was in 2010.

Brazil and Biometric Elections – where the 2018 goal is mentioned.

Kenya, procurement, vote, voter

Kenya: High Court judge rejects Biometric Voter Registration Kit procurement complaint

Kenya: Activist Fails to Stop Voter Registration Kit (All Africa)

For the second time in less than two weeks, a High Court judge has declined to stop the procurement of Biometric Voter Registration Kit meant for March 2013 general election. Judge David Majanja refused to give temporary order sought by activist Okoiti Omtatah and businessman Shailesh Kumar Nataverbhai.

The two sought to stop the supply of BVR kits on grounds that the procurement process does not meet the requirements under the constitution. Omtatah said the procurement process was neither fair nor competitive and as a result the court should stop the contract.

We’ve followed the developments in Kenya with great interest.

See:
Strange Things Afoot in Kenya Biometric Voter Registration Procurement and
Kenya Biometric Voter Tender: Curiouser & Curiouser

Or, better yet, click the ‘Kenya’ label in this post’s footer and get caught up all at once.

Africa, Canada, enrollment, Kenya, vote, voter

Kenya: Government signs contract for Canadian BVR’s

Canadian firm to supply Kenya with voting kits (Xinhua)

The Kenyan government has finally signed a contract with the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC), for the supply of 15,000 Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits to enable the East African nation hold credible polls in 2013.

A statement from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) said on Tuesday the contract was inked on Monday evening in Nairobi by Finance Ministry Permanent Secretary Joseph Kinyua, CCC’s Director David Olsen and IEBC’s Chief Executive Officer James Oswago.

“The Canadian agency gave a written undertaking on the integrity and commercial standing of the firm,” IEBC said in a statement issued in Nairobi.

Click here for the whole strange saga of the Kenya biometric voter register tender.

Ghana, verification, vote, voter

Ghana opts for biometric voter verification

EC orders 26,000 verification machines…For biometric verification (Ghanaian Chronicle)

“We have several samples of the verification machine in the office that we are going to use for piloting. The first piloting exercise will be done internally, I mean at the offices of the Electoral Commission in Accra. That exercise is slated for the first week of October. Following its success, we will then pilot it at some constituencies before the general elections,” noted Mr. Akumeah.

The biometric verification machine is a handheld machine used to ascertain that an individual ‘is who he says he is’ or ‘is who she says she is’. Biometric verification requires a biometric system or setup to operate in.

This makes a lot of sense because, by itself, biometric voter registration still allows for quite a few of the most common vote-rigging shenanigans.

Canada, Kenya, vote, voter

Kenya Inks Canadian Loan for Biometric Kits

Kenya: Govt Signs Deal With Canada for BVR Kits (All Africa)

The government yesterday signed a loan agreement with its Canadian counterpart for the Biometric Voter Registration kits. Justice minister Eugene Wamalwa confirmed that the Cabinet sub-committee yesterday met the Canadians to sign the memorandum of understanding.

The committee has been negotiating with the Canadians over the Sh4.6 billion deal.

The loan carries no interest but the Canadians get to pick the biometric voter registration (BVR) kit vendor.

Fiji, ID, vote, voter

80% of Fiji Adults Register for Biometric Voter Enrollment In Two Weeks

Close to Half a Million Fijians Register During First Phase of Registration (Republic of Fiji Press Release)

Almost half a million have registered to vote in the first wave of electronic voter registration (EVR) for the 2014 elections. This represents around 80 percent of current eligible domestic voters, with another period of registration to come later in the year, and the first registrations of Fijians living abroad to begin next year.

At the close of the first phase of sixty-one days, 488,734 Fijians registered at Voter Registration Centers (VRCs) that were open in locations across the country.

“This is a great achievement as Fiji moves toward parliamentary elections in 2014,” the Attorney-General and Minister Responsible for Elections, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said.

“The overwhelming turn-out of the Fijian people is a clear indication of their willingness and commitment to participate in the process of building a better Fiji for all.”

“A Fiji that provides the legal and moral foundation for a common and equal citizenry. Where there is no legal obligation to vote along ethnic lines, but where every Fijian over the age of 18 has an equal vote to cast as they choose.”

I believe there are also other reasons why Fijians have so eagerly adopted biometric voter registration. Because it is secured with biometrics, the voter registration card is being accepted as a credible for of ID by all sorts of government ministries. Can private sector entities be far behind?

Fiji 

The CIA World Factbook estimates Fiji’s population in 2012 at 890,057 and estimates that approximately 29% of the population is younger than fifteen years old. So that’s 489,734 enrollments among the over-fourteen population of around 633,000.

Africa, Canada, elections, Kenya, procurement, vote, voter

Kenya Biometric Election Registration Update

The Kenya biometric voter initiative is still lurching along…

The big update is that there will be an update.

Kenya: State to Give Voter Kit Update, Says Eugene (The Star – Nairobi via All Africa)

Justice minister Eugene Wamalwa said the update will be made after a stakeholders’ meeting to be held before the end of this week.

He said the tender was expected to be complete “soon as possible” to enable the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission start voter registration in readiness for the next year’s general election. This statement is expected before Friday.
…
“I can comment about which company will be given the award since its the Canadian who will determine the winner of the tender,” said Wamalwa. Canadian firm, Code Inc, which was involved in the pilot BVR project of 18 constituencies in Kenya before the 2010 referendum is also among those said to be considered for the tender.

I think he means he “can’t comment.” It’s the only way the rest of the sentence makes sense.

See also: Strange Things Afoot in Kenya Biometric Voter Registration Procurement, which ends with this summary chronology…

1. IEBC solicits proposals

2. IEBC narrows list to four providers

3. For whatever reason, IEBC can’t choose among them.

4. IEBC cancels the project foreclosing any recourse to the bidders who followed the IEBC’s instructions.

5. Hilary Clinton offers Kenya free biometric registration kits.

6. IEBC rejects the offer citing (unstated) political implications that would have arisen from such a donation, and a lack of time to complete the process.

7. IEBC makes a request of the Cabinet to acquire biometric registration kits through a government to government arrangement (Ghana, perhaps. UPDATE: It turns out to be Canada).

8. Laws will be changed to ensure that there’s enough time.

9. Vendors scratch heads.

10. Still, nobody is sure where the kits will come from.

Since then, Kenya has received a KES 5.4B interest free loan from Canadian government.

4,600,000,000.00 KES
=
54,534,677.93 USD
1 KES = 0.0118554 USD
1 USD = 84.3500 KES

The government of Kenya has outsourced all decision making about the procurement to the Canadians, the political implications in point 6 above apparently mitigated.

Fiji, ID, national ID, vote, voter

Fiji: Biometric Voter ID Being Used for all Sorts of Transactions

It’s like UID in reverse.

Ministry to accept voter cards as valid ID (Fiji Times)

THE Voter Identification Cards (VIC) issued through the electronic voter registration identification cards will be accepted as a valid form of identification by the Ministry of Justice by November 15.

Any Fijian who has registered to vote and who possesses a VIC will be able to access services provided by the Registrar of Titles Office, the Births, Deaths & Marriages Registry, the Companies Office (which includes the Moneylenders Registry) and the Official Receiver’s Office.

Read the whole thing. You’re half-way there already. By calling it UID in reverse I make no comparison between Fiji & India. Fiji has less than a million people and you can’t walk there from anywhere else. It’s just that, rather than develop one ID that can do everything. Fiji developed an ID for one purpose (elections) that has broad applicability to other ID tasks.

Fiji
enrollment, government, Kenya, procurement, vote, voter

Kenya Biometric Voter Tender: Curiouser & Curiouser

Kenya: Treasury Set to Announce Poll Kit Tender (All Africa)

Treasury is today expected to announce the name of the company that will provide the Biometric Voter Registration kits at a cost of more than Sh3 billion.

I was tempted to quote the next two paragraphs, too, but then I wanted to grab the next two, etc., with no end in site. So, just go read the whole thing. It’s worth it.

To set the scene for the article linked above or for a refresher, read Strange Things Afoot in Kenya Biometric Voter Registration Procurement.

authentication, enrollment, ID, Nigeria, verification, vote, voter

Enrollment vs Authentication: Nigeria seems to get it

Nigerians to get permanent voters card soon (Business Day)

“As you know, we did biometric data registration; before the end of this year, we will start issuing the permanent voter’s card, and these permanent voter’s cards that we are going to issue are chip-based, just like many of our own bank cards. So, they carry all the information on a microchip which is embedded in the card of the card,” he said.

“What we believe we can achieve at the minimum by 2015, is that we can achieve 100 percent authentication at the polling units.

Biometric voter registration without biometric voter authentication at the polling place is, at best, a half step toward an optimal biometric voting system.

database, enrollment, Kenya, large-scale, vote, voter

Kenya BVR: Enrollment kits are the easy part

Kenya’s flirtation with electoral biometrics has been in the news a lot lately. That fact has been reflected in the content and analysis hear at the SecurLinx blog (click here).

An often overlooked aspect of large biometric deployments is how small a piece of the overall solution biometric hardware is. The following article does as good a job as any I’ve seen adding context and detail.

BVR Is Unworkable; Its Use In 2013 Will Just Be A Disaster (The Star)

The debate on the Biometric Voter Registration has taken an unfortunate and impractical twist due to misinformation by politicians and the usual busybodies in Kenya. For the Executive and political class to insist that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission must implement BVR six months to elections is to invite disaster.

The issue around BVR at this point is not just about procurement. The main problem around BVR is implementation. BVR is not just a briefcase with sophisticated equipment. It is an integrated information system that comprises hardware, software, data, processes and people. Procurement will only deal with hardware. The devil is in implementing the software and ensuring the information system unlocks the promised benefits. Unfortunately, our politicians have hyped the benefits and created expectations of unrealistic dimensions.

Africa, elections, Gabon, vote, voter

Biometric Voter Register in Gabon 2013

Biometric voters’ list to be used during Gabon’s 2013 local elections (Xinhua)

The vice-chairman of Gemalto company which won the contract to prepare biometric voters’ register, on Wednesday reaffirmed before the government and the Constitutional Court that biometric poll lists will be used during Gabon’s 2013 local elections, an official source has said.

The official statement indicated that the company’s vice- chairman Youzec Kurp had assured the government and the Constitutional Court that all measures had been taken to ensure the biometric voters’ list will be ready on time.

The next presidential elections in Gabon are scheduled for 2016.

Africa, Clinton, elections, Ghana, Kenya, US, vote, voter

Strange Things Afoot in Kenya Biometric Voter Registration Procurement

Following a flurry of activity that included overtures from U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, the idea of renting registration kits from Ghana, and an electoral commission reluctant or unable to pick a bid, Kenya seems to be heading toward biometric voter registration for the elections scheduled for March 2013.

In order to move the project forward, two adjustments to the ordinary electoral process have been made.

The law mandating that the electoral register be completed 90 days prior to an election will be changed to allow the electoral commission an extra 45 days to complete its work. (Nairobi Star via All Africa)

The Cabinet yesterday accepted a request by the IEBC to acquire the biometric voter registration kits through a government to government arrangement. The Elections Act will also be amended to allow for the voter register to close 45 days to the polling date of March 4,2013 instead of the stipulated 90 days. These are among the decisions that were made during a meeting held between President Kibaki and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to resolve the crisis surrounding the procurement of the BVR kits which would have seen Kenyans revert to the manual voter registration system.

The amendment in the Elections Act will give the IEBC time to complete voter registration and allow scrutiny of the same and still keep within the elections time table it had drawn up. “The Government agreed to initiate amendments with the Elections Act to reduce the period for closure of the register from 90 days to 45 days so as to allow more time for voter registration,” a statement issued after the meeting read.

The stated procurement process has been thrown out the window. (Capital FM via All Africa)

MPs want Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Eugene Wamalwa to explain the criteria used by the Cabinet to select a Canadian firm to supply Biometric Voter Registration kits ahead of next year’s general election.

Ikolomani MP Boni Khalwale said the move amounted to the government taking over the procurement of the BVR kits from the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission.
…
The commission cancelled the tender for the supply of 9,750 BVR kits on Wednesday following immense public outcry on the manner the tender had been awarded. In announcing the cancellation, the commission said the two lowest bidders did not meet the due diligence requirements while the other two firms who met the due diligence including Symphony Limited, were above budget.

The company, which was second-placed in the tender bid, said it had fallen victim to “unknown intrigues.”

The Indian firm 4G Identity Solutions which had bid the lowest said it would respect the decision by the IEBC to cancel the tender. However, the firm appealed to the commission to rethink the cancellation since it would negatively impact them.

The Public Procurement and Disposal Act 2005 allows the IEBC to terminate the process before it awards the contract. In such case, the bidders cannot seek court intervention.

Apart from 4G and Symphony of Kenya, other companies shortlisted for the tender were Face Technologies of South Africa and Ontrack Innovations of Israel.

For a summary chronology:

1. IEBC solicits proposals

2. IEBC narrows list to four providers

3. For whatever reason, IEBC can’t choose among them.

4. IEBC cancels the project foreclosing any recourse to the bidders who followed the IEBC’s instructions.

5. Hilary Clinton offers Kenya free biometric registration kits.

6. IEBC rejects the offer citing (unstated) political implications that would have arisen from such a donation, and a lack of time to complete the process.

7. IEBC makes a request of the Cabinet to acquire biometric registration kits through a government to government arrangement (Ghana, perhaps).

8. Laws will be changed to ensure that there’s enough time.

9. Vendors scratch heads.

10. Still, nobody is sure where the kits will come from.

That’s kind of a mess.

democracy, Kenya, vote, Zimbabwe

Electoral Biometrics: Kenya & Zimbabwe

There we’re quite a few interesting developments in the world of biometrics yesterday that I didn’t get a chance to highlight here…

Two of them have to do with biometric elections in Africa. First, it looks like the on-again-off-again biometric voter roll for Kenya may be on again. If it is, you’ll certainly see more on the matter here. If you need a chance to catch up on the saga,  here’s our most recent post on the subject.

Meanwhile there’s considerable interest in applying biometric technology to voter registration in Zimbabwe. Other Zimbabwe posts are here. Biometric voter systems have a lot to recommend them, especially in young democracies or those with a civil society emerging as a potent force capable of holding governments responsive to the rule of law. Zimbabwe’s democracy problems don’t seem to be the kind that are solved with information technology.