ENGR. CHIDI NWAFOR, D IRECTOR, ICT

INEC

EFFECTIVENESS OF THE PERMANENT VOTER CARD

& CARD READER MACHINES IN CURBING

ELECTION FRAUD

Abuja 18th

March 2015

INTRODUCTION

•  The history of election fraud dates back to when Election itself came into being;

•  It is a normal thing for humans to want to beat a system, to want to circumvent laid down procedures to achieve their selfish ends;

•  It is with this background that I wish to first consider what Election Fraud is, and then go on to dig into the effectiveness of the Permanent Voter Cards and the Smart Card Readers in curbing such frauds.

ELECTION FRAUD DEFINED

•  Election fraud which is literarily called vote rigging simply means an illegal interference with the process of of an election; •  Acts that affect vote counts to bring about a desired

election result, whether by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of rival candidates, or both; •  Most electoral frauds take place during the voting

process, and in some cases after voting; •  However, curbing an election fraud at point of voting

would have a significant effect on any planned post-voting fraud.

COMMON TYPES OF ELECTION FRAUD

•  Let us consider the different types of election fraud, and how applicable they are to our system: •  Vote buying - parties and candidates distribute material

benefits to individual citizens in exchange for support at the ballot box. This could happen pre or during an election. Security officials to handle.

•  Voter Impersonation – to fraudulently assume the appearance or character of another voter. This can be attempted on election day if a voter has access to the card of another voter(s).

•  Ballot stuffing - to fill a ballot box with illegal votes or with more votes than the number of actual voters. 

COMMON TYPES OF ELECTION FRAUD (CONT’D)

•  Misrecording of votes – this could be the act of tampering with an election result by recording a false count which differs from the actual count on the field. Party agents, observer groups and voters (who now stay behind after polls to observe counting) help to curb this menace. This also could mean the act of unscrupulous officials or 'helpers' who record an elector's vote differently from their intentions (for voters who require help in casting their votes).

•  Misuse of postal or proxy votes – this is a great loophole in the election process as votes cast by proxy are or outside polling stations are prone to manipulations. This is not applicable in Nigeria.

•  Multiple voting – the act of voting more than once at one or more polling units. Simultaneous voting, with the practice of counting of voters before commencement of casting of votes helps.

THE PVC & SMART CARD READER

THE PVC AND ELECTION

•  The Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) were only issued to voters who have successfully passed through the register cleanup process. •  The process eliminated: •  over 4 million multiple registrations, •  and 11 million registrations without fingerprints which was

largely due to intentional attempts at beating the system.

•  This means that to a large extent, an holder of a PVC has only one record in the database therefore eliminating fraudulent practice like multiple voting.

SMART CARD READER – MODE OF OPERATION

•  A voter shall present himself at a Polling Unit (PU) with his/her PVC for accreditation;

•  An officer at the PU shall scan the card and the voter’s fingerprint;

•  The reader shall compare both fingerprints, if there is a match, indicates that the bearer of the card owns the card;

•  The reader shall store the VIN of the scanned card and the accreditation status – Successful or failed;

•  The device shall boldly show the total number of accreditation at the press of a single button, and transmits the total accredited to a central server;

•  The central server shall be closely monitored.

SMART CARD READER – IMPORTANT INFO

•  SCRs are configured on PU basis, and also on the number of Voting Points (VPs) in each PU; •  Each VP would have a SCR; •  About 17% spare SCRs have been deployed to the

States as spares for the election – though we have not recorded any breakdown during use; •  Spare SCRs will be available at each Registration

Area Centre on Election Day; •  There is provision for backup batteries for the SCRs –

a fully charged battery can last 12 hours when in use and days in standby mode.

SETTINGS

SMART CARD READER FOR THE ELECTIONS

•  As the Commission has consistently spelt-out, the device is not for electronic voting, but for accreditation of voters on Election Day;

•  It has varied functions: •  Voter Verification – checks that PVC presented is

genuine. There is a security key between the PVC and the SCR which verifies that it is an INEC PVC

•  Voter Identification – to identify the holder. The picture of holder is conspicuously displayed on the PVC, read and displayed on the reader

•  Voter Authentication – Verifies that the holder is the owner of the PVC. This is carried out through a one-to-one match of the fingerprint data on the PVC and the fingerprint of the holder

SMART CARD READER FOR THE ELECTIONS (CONT’D)

•  Poll Commencement time – Used to confirm the time of poll commencement (especially in places where there is data network coverage). Late commencement of polls can be tracked.

•  Demographics – A whole lot of Post Election Voter Analyses can be carried out - to know the trend of voting like % of voter turnout PU by PU, % of voters by gender, occupation, age, etc;

PVC & SCR FOR CURBING ELECTION FRAUD

•  From the foregoing, it is obvious that the deployment of SCRs will curb most of the election frauds discussed earlier; •  Voter impersonation – the SCR would identify each

voter and the APO physically verifies •  Ballot stuffing – The SCR records the total number of

accredited voters PU by PU, so any PU result that overshoots the number accredited would be noticed. The system at the backend flags any accreditation that is more than the registered voters

PVC & SCR FOR CURBING ELECTION FRAUD (CONT’D)

•  Misrecording of votes – •  All Accreditations from PUs are summed up to the RAs and

LGAs, so any alteration of total numbers of votes cast is noticed.

•  Also the SCRs would be handed over to the Collation Officers at the Ras who confirm that the total accredited on the machine is same as entered on the result sheets;

•  Multiple Voting – •  This is totally eliminated as the SCR takes note of every VIN

that has been accredited at the PU, time of accreditation, etc

•  The reader does not allow multiple accreditation of a VIN •  Each SCR is configured for a PU, so a PVC presented at a

different PU is rejected by the reader.

CONCLUSION

•  Free, fair and credible Elections is what the Commission stands for; •  Multiple voting should be a thing of the past with

the forthcoming Elections – as the SCR will ensure that one-man-one-vote is achieved; •  The Commission is set for one of the best Elections in

history, the cooperation of all Stakeholders is needed to achieve this feat; •  Curbing election fraud is not just the duty of the

Commission, but of everyone – vigilance and compliance to set rules would help a great deal.

THANK YOU