INEC Set to Launch Electronic Voting Ahead 2023 General Elections

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has made public it’s plan to kick start electronic voting method in the forthcoming 2023 general elections.

Daily Report Nigeria can confirm that INEC has launched an analysis on various electronic voting machines showcased by over 50 companies around the world.

The development was disclosed by the INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, saying the electoral umpire is committed to replacing manual voting with the e-voting method.

Okoye noted that the manual system had put the Commission under heavy logistics burden, including the printing of electoral papers and hiring of thousands of ad hoc staff, among others in the past.

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While there is no certainty with regards to date of commencement and completion of the process, Okoye remained optimistic about the idea.

“It is difficult to give you an idea of cost or when the process would be concluded, but we are determined that we are going to deploy electronic voting machines, electronic balloting machines very soon in our elections, possibly beginning with the Anambra governorship election in 2021.

Okoye in an interview with PUNCH said; “The commission is presently engaged in the procurement of INEC Voter Enrolment Devices (IVED) for the planned Voter Register update processes. These devices will be used to enrol Nigerians that have attained the age of 18 years, clean up the voters register and acquire additional biometric that will be in consonance with the use of Electronic Voting machines.

“The commission invited over 50 companies engaged in hard and software production to demonstrate the different brands and versions of their Electronic Voting Machines. The companies demonstrated the different Electronic Voting Machine solutions available.

“Some of the companies demonstrated the solutions virtually. The commission is analysing all the demonstrated systems for purposes of choosing the ones that are in tandem with our ecosystem, is rugged, simple to use and easily maintained.”

“The commission is committed to deepening the use of technology in the electoral process and the commission is committed to the introduction of electronic voting machines in Nigeria.

“We are therefore attending to procurement issues under the shadow of the pandemic. The pandemic no doubt affected and still affects production capacities of hardware and software companies. We are also looking forward to the amendments of the electoral legal framework that will domicile more concretely the use of technology in the electoral process.”

While there has been divided opinions on whether the country was ripe for electronic voting, some observers have called on INEC to make the acquisition and deployment processes transparent to all Nigerians.