2015 polls: Card reader does not violate Constitution, Electoral Act, says INEC
The use of card reader in the forthcoming elections does not violate the 1999 Constitution or the Electoral Act 2010 in any way, the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) said yesterday.
The commission,in a fact-sheet to educate voters ahead of the elections, said the introduction of the device is to improve the integrity of the electoral process and add “ value to the process in line with the yearnings of Nigerians for credible elections, and accords with international best practices.”
Already ,54, 327,747 Permanent Voters Cards, representing 78.93 per cent, have been collected nationwide.
67,206, 000 PVCs of the 68,833, 476 requisitioned have been delivered to the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT),it said .
INEC said the Card Reader is not a voting machine and will not used for voting.
According to the commission it is “ used only for accreditation of voters, and only accreditation (and not voting) data is transmitted by it.”
It vouched for the ability of the units to deliver on voting day,saying: “The Card Reader units have been broadly subjected to simulation Quality Assurance, Integrity and Functionality tests and INEC has full confidence in their performance for election purposes.
“The device has also been subjected to Performance and Conformance Test, both locally and in Texas, United States, laboratories by the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Research Centre and found to be of the highest quality grade. Besides all these, and with additional time resulting from the rescheduling of the 2015 general elections, the Commission has directed that Stress Test be conducted on the Card Reader device in mock election scenarios – two states in each of the six geo-political zones – ahead of the new election dates.”
It declared that the Card Reader cannot be misused or abused as it is specifically designed for each of the nation’s 119,000 polling units.
“ To prevent fraudulent use, the Card Rader is configured to work only on Election Days. In addition, the device is configured to specific polling units and cannot be used elsewhere without requiring reconfiguration by authorized INEC personnel .
INEC said that although the Card Reader cannot fail, it has procured more than 26,000 spares and acquired 35,000 back-up batteries, with accreditation of a voter with Card Reader estimated to last an average of 10 to 20 seconds .
The commission added: “Going by the results of tests already conducted, it is highly unlikely that the Card Reader will fail on Election Day. Still, INEC has drawn up serial intervention plans in the unlikely event of the Card Readers failing.
In the “extremely unlikely and isolated event” that a faulty Card Reader can’t be replaced within the scheduled accreditation hours, INEC has come to a firm agreement with political parties that the exercise be repeated the following day rather than revert to manual accreditation.
“These procedures, which registered political parties have agreed to, have been written into the ‘Approved Guidelines and Regulations for the Conduct of 2015 General Elections’.
INEC said it designed the Card Readers to be used in the 2015 elections with 12-hour battery life in active usage.
On the distribution and collection of the PVCs ,INEC said collection in all the states and the FCT has hit over 60 per cent.
Leading in the PVCs collection Akwa Ibom(94.46); Bauchi(94.36); Gombe (95.05); Jigawa(98); Kaduna(92.72); Katsina(92.65); Taraba(93.42); Zamfara(93.42).
They are followed by Kebbi(89.53); Sokoto(88.60); Adamawa( 87.54); Niger (81.52); Enugu(81.2); and Abia(81.15).
Those under 70 per cent are:Ekiti ( 69.10); Kogi(68.55); Borno(68.28); Edo(67.30); Oyo(66.37); Bayelsa(66.21); Lagos(63.44); and FCT(62.67).
The commission,in a fact-sheet to educate voters ahead of the elections, said the introduction of the device is to improve the integrity of the electoral process and add “ value to the process in line with the yearnings of Nigerians for credible elections, and accords with international best practices.”
Already ,54, 327,747 Permanent Voters Cards, representing 78.93 per cent, have been collected nationwide.
67,206, 000 PVCs of the 68,833, 476 requisitioned have been delivered to the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT),it said .
INEC said the Card Reader is not a voting machine and will not used for voting.
According to the commission it is “ used only for accreditation of voters, and only accreditation (and not voting) data is transmitted by it.”
It vouched for the ability of the units to deliver on voting day,saying: “The Card Reader units have been broadly subjected to simulation Quality Assurance, Integrity and Functionality tests and INEC has full confidence in their performance for election purposes.
“The device has also been subjected to Performance and Conformance Test, both locally and in Texas, United States, laboratories by the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Research Centre and found to be of the highest quality grade. Besides all these, and with additional time resulting from the rescheduling of the 2015 general elections, the Commission has directed that Stress Test be conducted on the Card Reader device in mock election scenarios – two states in each of the six geo-political zones – ahead of the new election dates.”
It declared that the Card Reader cannot be misused or abused as it is specifically designed for each of the nation’s 119,000 polling units.
“ To prevent fraudulent use, the Card Rader is configured to work only on Election Days. In addition, the device is configured to specific polling units and cannot be used elsewhere without requiring reconfiguration by authorized INEC personnel .
INEC said that although the Card Reader cannot fail, it has procured more than 26,000 spares and acquired 35,000 back-up batteries, with accreditation of a voter with Card Reader estimated to last an average of 10 to 20 seconds .
The commission added: “Going by the results of tests already conducted, it is highly unlikely that the Card Reader will fail on Election Day. Still, INEC has drawn up serial intervention plans in the unlikely event of the Card Readers failing.
In the “extremely unlikely and isolated event” that a faulty Card Reader can’t be replaced within the scheduled accreditation hours, INEC has come to a firm agreement with political parties that the exercise be repeated the following day rather than revert to manual accreditation.
“These procedures, which registered political parties have agreed to, have been written into the ‘Approved Guidelines and Regulations for the Conduct of 2015 General Elections’.
INEC said it designed the Card Readers to be used in the 2015 elections with 12-hour battery life in active usage.
On the distribution and collection of the PVCs ,INEC said collection in all the states and the FCT has hit over 60 per cent.
Leading in the PVCs collection Akwa Ibom(94.46); Bauchi(94.36); Gombe (95.05); Jigawa(98); Kaduna(92.72); Katsina(92.65); Taraba(93.42); Zamfara(93.42).
They are followed by Kebbi(89.53); Sokoto(88.60); Adamawa( 87.54); Niger (81.52); Enugu(81.2); and Abia(81.15).
Those under 70 per cent are:Ekiti ( 69.10); Kogi(68.55); Borno(68.28); Edo(67.30); Oyo(66.37); Bayelsa(66.21); Lagos(63.44); and FCT(62.67).
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