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The Electoral Process - Issue of Biometric Registration and Voting
[September 23, 2011]

The Electoral Process - Issue of Biometric Registration and Voting


Sep 23, 2011 (Public Agenda/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- After persistent calls for Biometric voting by a section of Ghanaians, the Electoral Commission finally announced that it is going to employ a Biometric Register for the 2012 General Elections. Ama Achiaa A. Baafi, our staff writer, examines the process, bringing to light matters which should engage the attention of all stakeholders.



Many a sound voter registration process is said to be crucial to any credible and successful election. Yet, voter registration is also often the most expensive part of conducting elections.

Election experts have said that there is no best way to conduct elections, and for that matter, voter registration. They argue that what works in one country does not necessarily work in another and that each country has its own political and socioeconomic contexts, its own resource limitations and its own needs to take into consideration when designing a voter registration system.


Voter registration Voter registration is understood as the process of registering eligible voters, while the voters' register is the resultant product. Both the process and resultant voter registration need to be accurate, sustainable and politically accepted to all key stakeholders.

A document edited by Astrid Evrensel of the UNDP entitled, 'Voter Registration in Africa: A Comparative Analysis', offers a comprehensive introduction to the single most complex process within the electoral cycle.

The publication produced with the assistance of the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) as part of a larger initiative to examine voter registration in different regions of the world, critically analyses the efficacy and sustainability of different voter registration systems across the African continent.

It identifies guiding principles for voter registration and introduces the reader to the latest technological developments in the industry, such as fingerprint and face recognition.

It gives some of the reasons for going to that extent and expense of constructing a voters' register to include: @ providing information that assists with election planning and logistics @ sensitizing the public to their electoral rights @ augmenting controls on fraudulent attempts to vote, such as ineligible persons voting, impersonation, or voting for others.

According to the document, if the objectives of voter registration are not clearly defined or do not have widespread public support, both the legal and procedural framework for registration and its implementation can easily lose focus and become ineffective.

"Voter registration is not an end in itself: its true test is in its use -particularly in its control, authentication and access functions on voting day." Some Guiding Principles Integrity The voter registration framework and processes must be fair and honest, free from political and other manipulation or intimidation, allow all eligible persons.

Inclusiveness Voter registration frameworks and processes should not contain measures that exclude persons from registration to serve political advantage. In a democracy, the voter registration processes should provide all adult eligible citizens equitable opportunity to register. There should be no systematic exclusion of any group - whether women, members of ethnic or linguistic minorities, poor or homeless people, or residents of remote areas.

Comprehensiveness Voter registration exercises should aim at registering 100% of qualified persons, including those societal groups that may be less inclined to register to vote, such as women, youth and those to whom standard registration processes may be less accessible.

Accuracy All voter registration information should be recorded accurately and maintained properly so that the voter lists used for elections are up to date. Accuracy relates to ensuring both the validity and correctness of all information on the voters' register. Measures that are commonly taken to enhance accuracy include procedures and processes to: ensure the identity for which a person attempts to register to vote validly belongs to that person; ensure that the address in respect of which a person attempts to register is a valid address and one for which the person Accessibility Voter registration processes should be physically and geographically accessible as well as readily understandable by all persons qualified to register. Any locations used for voter registration purposes and which require the public to attend to provide or check information should be: physically accessible to all - including the elderly and disabled open at times that can service all employed, unemployed and rural farm populations readily accessible on foot or serviced by regular public transport, and located within reasonable distance of all eligible voters in its catchment area - using mobile locations in more sparsely populated An informed public Voter registration processes should be clearly explained and widely publicised to all potential eligible voters as well as to all stakeholder organisations in the electoral process, such as political parties, the media and CSOs.

Transparency Transparency in registering voters promotes public trust in the integrity of voter registration processes and products. Civil society, particularly through professional and impartial monitoring and reporting by CSOs, and fair investigation and reporting by the media can enhance the transparency of voter registration.

Administrative and political feasibility The voter registration framework, systems and processes need to suit a country's cultural and political environment.

Accountability The institution(s) responsible for voter registration must be subject to accountability mechanisms which ensure that the objectives of voter registration are achieved and that the principles of voter registration have been applied.

Credibility Importantly, no matter how well the framework and system for registering voters satisfies the above principles, it also needs to be publicly credible. There should be political parties, and the public need to believe that voter registration has been conducted with integrity, equity, accuracy and effectiveness.

Stakeholder participation Stakeholders must be informed regularly and their views considered both at the decision-making phase and during the conduct of a voter registration exercise.

This will increase stakeholders' support and trust of the overall process and its product - the voters' roll.

Sustainability Sustainability is necessary to assure the future of the voter registration framework, systems and processes. Sustainability of voter registration is not just a matter of having sufficient assured future funds to continue voter registry operations.

There are multiple aspects to the sustainability of any electoral process: Institutional sustainability requires that the legal framework for voter accepted by stakeholders so as not to threaten the viability of the institutions responsible for voter registration. Financial and economic sustainability requires that all voter registration systems and processes are, in the medium to longer term, capable of being implemented with minimal or no reliance on funding from international institutions or other countries. Human resource sustainability requires that sufficient, appropriately skilled staff and contractors are available within the EMB and other relevant local institutions to ensure the effective future implementation, maintenance and development of voter registration systems and processes. Technological sustainability requires that any equipment and automated processing used for voter registration is reliable when employed in local conditions, is capable of being operated and maintained within the country and is publicly accepted as appropriate for the local environment. Political sustainability requires that the voter registration framework, systems and processes are widely accepted across the political spectrum, promote the legitimacy, inclusiveness and integrity of elections, and assist in reducing the potential for conflict.

Electronic bio-identification systems Biometrics is the technology by which the physical characteristics of a person's face, fingerprint and iris are attached to the individual's personal data and stored in the database. Future referencing of a person is based on this data.

The system searches the existing database either to make a negative match (meaning that the person has not been captured in the database yet) or a positive match to a person's stored biological data.

The efficiency of biometrics can help to detect double registration attempts or to clean the database of unintentional multiple recordings. It cannot establish the identity of a voter as it only links biological features to the data provided by an individual.

Software programmes have technological limitations and are only as good as the data fed into them and the programme features designed by the software developers.

Sophisticated systems are needed to verify the accuracy and completeness of the data on a voters' roll. As the acceptance of a voters' roll depends much on the political circumstances in a country, it is questionable whether additional benefits can be derived from a high-tech system.

If all electoral stakeholders are actively involved in all stages of the process, then trust in the system can be established using a well designed process with appropriate standard technology.

How secure is a biometric system? Two critical measurements indicate the level of accuracy, security and reliability of any given biometric system, namely - the false reject rate and the false accept rate.

A person is falsely rejected, for example, when s/he is already enrolled in the database but the system fails to positively identify him / her.

Testing biometric systems It may be difficult for some EMBs to analyse and fully understand study results presented by vendors who are eager to sell their products. Simple studies are good for obtaining a rough overview of a system's performance; however, more in-depth studies are crucial before a system is deployed to ensure that real performance will meet EMB requirements and that the system is fully operational in specific country conditions.

For example, the scanners purchased by Ghana to process OMR forms quoted a processing speed of 5,000 forms an hour, while in practice the 'real' speed was some 1,000 forms an hour.

Passive and active biometric systems An active biometric system means that the database is checked on the spot and a voter can only register if the system establishes that the person is not already in the database. This system requires all registration points to be networked with the central database at the same time and all entries are checked against all other entries.

An active biometric system is definitely the most secure but it is also the most complex and is very expensive to set up and run, even in developed countries.

With a passive biometric system, voters' details are collected in the field and each person who can positively establish their eligibility to register is allowed to do so.

Only at a later stage is the information fed into the database and multiple registrations are detected and deleted using matching criteria. A passive system is most effective when voter cards are issued at a later stage - after the data has been cleaned of double registrations.

It is possible for voters to be in possession of multiple voter cards when voter cards are produced on the spot at the point of registration with the data being compared only later. This situation can potentially give rise to fraud.

How useful are biometrics? In his contribution to this research project Michael Maley explained that, in terms of electoral maturity, a country can be characterised as mature, failing or somewhere in between.

Electoral maturity within a country implies: strong, deep and widespread acceptance of electoral norms; intolerance of electoral fraud; and neutral, trusted and well-entrenched institutions.

Failing electoral maturity within a country implies: minimal support for electoral norms; that fraud is likely to be pursued with no special shame (often with impunity); and little commitment to democratic processes.

Electoral authorities and donors are attracted by the opportunity to make improvements to their systems rather than to address the more sensitive and difficult problems of misconduct by politicians, political parties and voters.

Biometrics versus the ballot box In Mozambique, for example, several stakeholders were reported to have accused the National Electoral Commission of lack of transparency because the EMB refused to disclose details of the computer processes used in the voter registration exercise and compilation of the voters' roll, and would not release data necessary to identify the number of voters registered at each voting station.

In Senegal, it said that even staff at the ministry in charge of the database considered the entire IT component of the data processing system (which is managed by external commercial companies) as a black box, with no real possibility to supervise or effectively audit the process.

What biometrics cannot identify It is important to understand that the use of biometric technology will not solve all voter registration challenges. For example, biometrics cannot detect the inclusion of foreign nationals (people from neighbouring countries) or the inclusion of underage voters in the voters' roll.

By the same token, biometrics cannot assist in identifying and deleting deceased persons from the database.

There are many voter registration methodologies - some are cheaper, simpler or of higher integrity than others. In principle, the methodology chosen should provide for a transparent, effective, efficient and sustainable exercise. The voters' roll should be widely accepted by political participants and should be seen as equitable, comprehensive and accurate.

Why Ghana now? The Electoral Commission (EC) has announced its decision to introduce a system of biometric registration as a lead up to biometric voting later.

Political observers say the type of equipment chosen, its overall capabilities, and the manner of introducing the system are as important as the idea itself.

As a step, the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, announced in Parliament that the government has allocated GHc50 million initially, and ultimately $85million for the biometric registration exercise.

Since the announcement by the EC, many observers have said there are equally disturbing questions that need answers and issues that need to be resolved.

They are concerned that 2012 is just around the corner and that the registration exercise when once opened may not cover the entire country before it comes to an end. A question that has been raised is whether the registration process will start from the scratch, or is it going to utilize available databases such as those held at the passport, DVLA, NHIS offices? Has the preferred equipment been stress tested elsewhere for accuracy to minimize false acceptance and ensuring it would be robust and fit for purpose? The observers say these are critical questions because the purpose of a biometric register is to avoid duplicity, impersonation and multiple voting potential for those so desirous.

Opposition parties concerns The flag bearer of the NPP, Nana Akufo-Addo recently stated that if the government and the EC controversially go ahead with half measures, by introducing biometric equipment without verification capability to prevent multiple voting then the object would be missed and the investment made ought to be better utilized elsewhere.

Former President John Kufuor has shared similar sentiments. He stresses that verification is central to the application of biometric registration as it prevents multiple voting. He believes the cost of the verification would not be too much to ignore.

Yet, the Acting Director of Public Affairs of the EC, Mr Christian Owusu-Parry, has been quoted as saying that verification is not part of the exercise.

The think tank group, IMANI, has raised questions on the issue of infrastructure, test regime and other security measures relating to biometrics. It contends that either the country goes for the full biometric package, or else the status quo should be maintained .

Central to the use of biometrics is the amendment to Ghana's electoral law to make room for the use of the new technology. However, the EC is yet to submit to Parliament the necessary instrument.

Mr Owusu-Parry assured that there was no cause for alarm over the amendment of the electoral law but recent media reports have shown there is nothing in the offing.

Some Ghanaians have expressed concerns about when the EC would begin public education and training for stakeholders. There have also been questions about the selection of a contractor for the project, resulting in a court case which the EC won.

Local experience: E-Voting at GIJ There is a micro level experience from which many lessons can be drawn. The Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) employed electronic voting for its 2011/12 SRC elections.

Although the process turned out successfully, considering the relatively shorter period for the declaring of the results; all and sundry came to the inescapable conclusion that, the ability to exercise one's franchise depends on whether one is computer literate.

Thus the question that easily thrusts itself forward is, how the large sections of the populace who do not know how to manipulate the computer will participate meaningfully in an e-voting, a crucial element in a biometric voting exercise. That calls for massive education which will run way into the distant future.

No e-voting but biometric registration The EC has made it clear that electronic voting (e-voting) will not be applicable in the 2012 general election because the time is not yet appropriate for that system.

It, however, indicated that it would most likely use a biometric register for the conduct of Election 2012. Its Deputy Chairman (Finance), Mr David Adenze Kanga, in an interview with the Daily Graphic said there was the need for the nation to hasten slowly with respect to e-voting.

"For electronic voting, we are not going to be there in 2012. Our own view is that we should encourage corporate bodies and institutions to begin to use e-voting for their own internal elections so that people will get used to E-voting, such that by the time the commission is ready and we go national, people would have appreciated the difficulties of E-voting, if there are any." Mr. Kanga has since urged all the political parties and Ghanaians to contribute towards successful elections in 2012.

"The conduct of elections is by the commission, but the success depends on all the stakeholders, including the political parties," he added.

Political observers say that biometric registration and e-voting seem good in advanced societies. They, however, wonder how that could be made possible in Ghana against the backdrop of high rate of illiteracy in Ghana.

International experience In the United Kingdom (UK) until February 2001, the electoral register was updated yearly, using information supplied by households each autumn.

Data by its Parliamentary office of Science and Technology state that a system of rolling registration has now been introduced and electoral registers will be updated monthly (although there is still an annual canvass each autumn). No form of identification is required to register.

There are three ways people can vote: in person at a polling station, by post or by proxy. Most voting currently takes place at a monitored polling station where authentication is handled by election officials.

Identification is not required. Ballot papers are obtained at the polling station, marked by hand and placed into ballot boxes, which are delivered to the central count and counted by hand.

Direct-recording electronic voting machines require voters to use a keyboard, touch screen, or pointer to mark their vote on a computer terminal. These are immediately added to a running tally.

Advantages of online voting Proponents of online voting have argued that it could increase voter turnout. However, this is by no means certain. Only a minority of the UK population has home Internet access (35%), and many of those who do not vote are unlikely to have ready access to computers.

Home Internet uptake has been rapid and the proposed switch-off of analogue TV by the end of the decade could result in near-universal access to interactive services via digital TV.

Concerns about online voting Security While Internet voting - especially remote Internet voting -is appealing for the reasons given above, several recent studies suggest that there are considerable security risks.

In 1999, the California Secretary of State convened a task force of experts to make recommendations about the feasibility of Internet voting in California.

The task force delivered their report in January 2000, concluding "additional technical innovations are necessary before remote Internet voting can be widely implemented as a useful tool to improve participation in the elections process in California." It recommended that Internet voting be introduced in four stages, over a period of many years. The first stage, poll site Internet voting, might be feasible in the near future. The later stages - regional poll site, kiosk, and remote Internet voting - should not be deployed until the associated security concerns can be addressed.

Other reports on electronic voting released over the past year have also concluded that more research is needed before Internet voting can be secure.

Among the key issues is the difficulty of securing personal computers against viruses and the vulnerability of the Internet to denial of service attacks. There is also a need for better audit and test procedures to ensure that machine or Internet voting accurately records each ballot.

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