voter

development, enrollment, Ghana, ID, verification, vote, voter

Ghana election context

ID management is about people.

The following article about Ghana isn’t about biometrics but it provides some of the context in which Friday’s biometric (registration and verification) elections will occur this Friday.

Biometrics have helped put rigorous ID management systems within the reach of organizations that couldn’t obtain them before.

Coup era over, Ghana showcases African democracy (Las Vegas Sun)

“The reason Ghanaians are so drawn to democracy,” analyst Jonah said, “is because they have seen that democracy in Western countries has brought a very high level of development, and they want to be like America, they want to be like Britain.”

He said that if the rulers can deliver the services the people need, “Then people will say, `OK, democracy isn’t just every four years selecting people. Democracy also brings development.'”

elections, Ghana, vote, voter

Civil group publishes report on Ghana biometric voter registration

Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) final Statement nationwide Biometric Voter Registration exercise (Citifm Online)

The goal of CODEO’s BVR observation was to promote a credible voter registration in Ghana, which is accurate and will contribute to peaceful election outcomes. With the generous assistance from the United Kingdom Department of International Development (DfID):

CODEO recruited, trained and deployed a total of 650 of its members to observe the entire BVR registration exercise. This observation covered a random sample of 600 registration centers drawn from 300 Electoral Areas in 100 districts in all 10 regions of Ghana. In order to obtain a nationally representative sample, key consideration was given to the total number of registration centers in each of the 10 Regions in the country and the same was repeated at the regional, district and electoral area levels. This allowed CODEO to obtain a true picture of the BVR exercise nationwide over the four phases of the exercise.

Their findings are likely of interest to others contemplating very large scale identity management deployments.

Africa, elections, enrollment, Sierra Leone, vote, voter

Sierra Leone votes today

Can tech revolutionize African elections? (CNN)
by Jonathan Bhalla at Africa Research Institute

An often overlooked aspect of the current electoral cycle in Sierra Leone is the use of biometric technology to capture thumb prints and facial features in the registration of voters.

“Credible elections start with credible voter registration,” remarked Christiana Thorpe, chief commissioner of Sierra Leone’s National Electoral Commission, during a presentation at Africa Research Institute in London in July 2011. For Thorpe, a bloated or inaccurate voter register always has a negative effect on the electoral process.

Read the whole thing.

audit, children, elections, Ghana, ID, voter

At least the kids can’t vote twice – Ghana edition

Minors Captured In Biometric Voter Register A Big Challenge For EC – Dr Afari-Gyan (Ghana.gov)

He said the biometric verification machine cannot determine who is a minor or a foreigner and that examination of images of those captured during the biometric registration shows that minors were registered all over the country.

This brings up several ID issues.

Since there is no precise physiological indication of age, it is important to register children when they are born.

Some non-trivial proportion of the world’s individuals don’t actually know how old they are.

What policies were in place during the voter registration process?

It’s almost impossible to conceive that the enrollment software didn’t in some way note the electoral worker responsible for each enrollment. Is there any correlation between the registrants that seem obviously to be around twelve years old and the worker responsible for the registration?

On the positive side, with a well-functioning biometric voter system at least the kids can’t vote twice.

See:
At Least the Kids Can’t Vote Twice in ARMM, Philippines
Biometrics “Fix” Identity

 

elections, Ghana, vote, voter

Ghana: The big day is three weeks away

Legislative and Presidential elections in Ghana are just 3 weeks from tomorrow: December 7, 2102.

In keeping with its leadership role in West Africa, Ghana is an early adopter of biometric technologies for managing national elections. At least a couple of other West African countries (Sierra Leone this Saturday, and Cameroon) have committed to biometric elections in the near future and it’s fair to say all other countries in the region are taking a keen interest in how things go in Ghana.

People in Ghana are acutely aware that the eyes of West Africa and the world are on them. Beyond that, they want free, fair, orderly and well-managed elections. With three weeks to go, some anxiety is beginning to show and there seems to have been a spike in media coverage of the electoral process.

Here’s a run-down of some of what the Ghanaian media is saying.

Dousing The EC Blues (Daily Guide)

The Electoral Commission (EC) does not appear ready with key components of the forthcoming polls, raising the adrenaline level of most Ghanaians, especially as we near the December 7 election date. News to that effect made disturbing headlines in the media yesterday when the non-availability of the biometric register for the political parties’ scrutiny before the polling day was put out. Many Ghanaians who read the stories could not help wondering whether the district assembly elections were going to be re-enacted on December 7.

The Electoral commission maintains that it has integrated the new technology so as to support Ghana’s voting system and that they are on course.

EC Is Prepared For Proxy Voting In December Polls – Afari Gyan

Voters Register Out On Monday (Peace FM Online)

“We are confident that our machines would work perfectly and we would have a smooth voting process,” he [ed: Dr. Kwadwo Afari Djan, chairman of the Electoral Commission] said.

There’s also some attention paid to the issue of non-EC observation of the election.

Leave polling stations after voting – EC warns voters (Ghana Web)

The Electoral Commission (EC) has directed all voters to leave the polling stations immediately after casting their vote on Election Day.

The directive is in contrast to an order by the executives of some political parties in the Eastern Region who keep asking their followers and supporters at their rallies not to leave the polling stations after casting their vote, so that they will help check illegal acts that will be perpetrated by their opponents.

Editorial – Media ruled out of early voting? (Ghana Web)

It is a bizarre state of affair for the Nations electoral governing body to snub the significant role played by the media to ensure a peaceful and a transparent electoral process across the country by blatantly ruling out its participation in the early voting process.

Considering the anxiety and pockets of violence which characterized the Biometric voter registration exercise in parts of the country months ago, the Electoral commission must be self informed of possible but sizeable tension and aggression on December 7.

That’s where things stand three weeks before election day.

The Ghanaian elections are providing a useful case study for students of complex, large-scale biometric ID management deployments. The issues are technical, cultural, and managerial in nature. Those in the biometrics industry and managers in complex ID environments can learn a lot from what’s happening in Ghana.

Africa, Cameroon, elections, ID, Kenya, Sierra Leone, vote, voter

Africa: Other biometric elections

KENYA: IEBC Briefs Kibaki on Poll Preparedness (All Africa).
Training electoral workers and informing the public is a HUGE part of the challenge of implementing biometric elections. It’s also one of the most expensive parts ‵ more expensive than the technology, I’d say, even in places with low labor costs.

CAMEROON: Keeping the veil on women’s electoral participation (News Day)
“Allowing women to get national identity cards could also be potentially upsetting for men who want absolute control over their wives.” We’ve made the point here over and over that a legitimate ID is a prerequisite to full participation in the modern world. It seems our point of view is widely shared.

SIERRA LEONE: 2012 Election: A test democracy (In Depth Africa)
The election will be the first since the end of the 11-year war in 2002 to be conducted entirely by the Sierra Leone government. The country’s 2.6 million voters were registered for the first time on a biometric system to prevent multiple voting and avoid electoral fraud. The Guardian (UK) also has a useful article on the stakes in Saturday’s Sierra Leone election.

elections, ID, US, vote, voter

What about the United States?

So, having put Africa under the microscope (above, here & here) how is the United States doing?

America’s election process an international embarrassment (CNN)

America has one of the world’s most antique, politicized and dysfunctional procedures for its elections. A crazy quilt patchwork of state and local laws with partisan officials making key decisions and ancient technology that often breaks down. There are no national standards. American voters in more than a dozen states, for example, don’t need ID. But even India, with a GDP just 12 percent that of ours, is implementing a national biometric database for 1.2 billion voters. The nascent democracy in Iraq famously dipped voters’ fingers in purple to ensure they didn’t vote again. Why are we so behind the curve?

Ouch.

elections, Philippines, voter

Philippines: Consolidating biometric elections will have to wait until 2016

8M Voters Without Biometric Listing Can Vote – Senate Body (Manila Bulletin)

These voters could still cast their votes in 2013 because no consolidated bill has not been passed by the two chambers – Senate and the House of Representatives – of Congress and any enactment of a law on this biometrics issue would cover the 2016 elections, Pimentel said.

Still, for Philippine nationals supportive of more rigorous voter registration, 2013 might not be as bad as it sounds at first. According to the Bulletin, the 8 million records in question will be ‘deactivated’ from the voter rolls and re-activated if individuals apply for validation.

UPDATE:
This article seems to be saying that there will be no recourse for those who haven’t registered using the biometric system.

UPDATE II:
Comelec chief clarifies stand on proposed biometrics system (Balita)

“I have always answered that I prefer it to take effect in 2016 as it would give the voters time to validate and that the 2013 polls is too close,” Brillantes said in his official Twitter account.

“If its effectivity will be in 2013, many voters with no biometrics may be disenfranchised since we can no longer reopen revalidation. My view, therefore, is consistent with that of Senators [Alan Peter] Cayetano and [Koko] Pimentel — only that my statements were unfortunately taken out of context,” he added.

corruption, Ghana, vote, voter

Ghana: Catholic Bishops commend efforts on voter registration including biometrics

Catholic Bishops Raise Alarm Over Corruption (Peace FM Online)

After the declaration of results the bishops urged all Ghanaians “to continue in the spirit of togetherness to join forces to build Mother Ghana.”

They commended the Chairman of the EC and his team for, as they stated, “their steadfastness and the preparations they have made for the upcoming elections. They have surmounted formidable challenges to make the biometric registration and voting a reality.”

This paragraph appears about half way through a longer article about what Catholic bishops in Ghana have to say about corruption.

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.

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.

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.