The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed that snatching the Bimodal Voter Registration Systems (BVAS) on election day, as was previously the case with ballot box snatching in previous elections, will be ineffective, as the snatchers or their paymasters will not achieve their objective.
According to the electoral board, the BVAS, the technology that will be utilized for the accreditation and identification of voters in 2023, will be deactivated from the backend so that a thief cannot influence votes.
INEC’s Deputy Director of Information and Communications Technology, Lawrence Bayode, stated on Channels Television’s special election program The 2023 Verdict, “If a BVAS is stolen, we have a system in place that can deactivate that particular BVAS.”
“We deactivate it so that whomever steals it will be unable to use it, as the gadget pushes the accreditation data automatically even if the operator does not press a button. It pushes accrediting data to the backend when it is idle.”
Previous elections in Nigeria have been marred by ballot-box snatching in certain polling stations, as hoodlums and gunmen overrun police officers and other security personnel to disrupt the voting process.
However, the electoral board voiced confidence in the security agents’ abilities to safeguard critical and non-sensitive goods at voting places. However, the election official stated that if BVASs are stolen, criminals will be unable to use them.
According to the INEC official, if 50 voters are already accredited on a device and the gadget sits idle while waiting for new voters to arrive, the 50 voters will be pushed to the end of the list.
“They (criminals) cannot take control of the accreditation process since the technology is meant to push accredited voters to the end,” he explained.
The polling unit officer will report the event, according to Bayode, if criminals move the gadget to other locations where they believe they may falsify its data.
“If this occurs, the PO will report it, and from the backend, the device will be deactivated so that the person who stole it will be unable to use it,” he explained.
When asked what would happen if the polling unit officer is unable to report the theft quickly, the INEC official responded, “The individual who stole the gadget would still be powerless.”
Similarly, Victor Aluko, INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, stated that the period for collecting Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) has concluded till until the general elections in 2023.
On election day, INEC would not transport uncollected PVCs to polling units because it would be a diversion for the polling unit officers.
“Whoever was legitimately registered and was unable to acquire their PVC, it bothers us, but we are promising them that if they miss this election, there will be subsequent elections and they will still be able to obtain their PVCs and vote,” he said.
The BVAS and INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) are mandated by the Electoral Act of 2022. It is a technology system that permits the accreditation of voters via biometrics capture, uploading of results, and other functions. Many have regarded it as an update of the smartcard reader used in the country’s last general election, which yielded some positive results in the voting process.
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INEC has always maintained that the BVAS will be utilized in this year’s elections, despite the fact that a number of politicians have expressed reluctance and even gone to court to oppose its deployment.
The electoral body also stated that it has sufficient BVAS devices to conduct elections in all 176,846 polling units nationwide, and that politicians attempting to manipulate the 2023 general elections by purchasing PVCs are wasting their time because the BVAS will reject the biometric data of individuals who are not the original owners of the traded PVCs.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed that snatching the Bimodal Voter Registration Systems (BVAS) on election day, as was previously the case with ballot box snatching in previous elections, will be ineffective, as the snatchers or their paymasters will not achieve their objective.
According to the electoral board, the BVAS, the technology that will be utilized for the accreditation and identification of voters in 2023, will be deactivated from the backend so that a thief cannot influence votes.
INEC’s Deputy Director of Information and Communications Technology, Lawrence Bayode, stated on Channels Television’s special election program The 2023 Verdict, “If a BVAS is stolen, we have a system in place that can deactivate that particular BVAS.”
“We deactivate it so that whomever steals it will be unable to use it, as the gadget pushes the accreditation data automatically even if the operator does not press a button. It pushes accrediting data to the backend when it is idle.”
Previous elections in Nigeria have been marred by ballot-box snatching in certain polling stations, as hoodlums and gunmen overrun police officers and other security personnel to disrupt the voting process.
However, the electoral board voiced confidence in the security agents’ abilities to safeguard critical and non-sensitive goods at voting places. However, the election official stated that if BVASs are stolen, criminals will be unable to use them.
According to the INEC official, if 50 voters are already accredited on a device and the gadget sits idle while waiting for new voters to arrive, the 50 voters will be pushed to the end of the list.
“They (criminals) cannot take control of the accreditation process since the technology is meant to push accredited voters to the end,” he explained.
The polling unit officer will report the event, according to Bayode, if criminals move the gadget to other locations where they believe they may falsify its data.
“If this occurs, the PO will report it, and from the backend, the device will be deactivated so that the person who stole it will be unable to use it,” he explained.
When asked what would happen if the polling unit officer is unable to report the theft quickly, the INEC official responded, “The individual who stole the gadget would still be powerless.”
Similarly, Victor Aluko, INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, stated that the period for collecting Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) has concluded till until the general elections in 2023.
On election day, INEC would not transport uncollected PVCs to polling units because it would be a diversion for the polling unit officers.
“Whoever was legitimately registered and was unable to acquire their PVC, it bothers us, but we are promising them that if they miss this election, there will be subsequent elections and they will still be able to obtain their PVCs and vote,” he said.
The BVAS and INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) are mandated by the Electoral Act of 2022. It is a technology system that permits the accreditation of voters via biometrics capture, uploading of results, and other functions. Many have regarded it as an update of the smartcard reader used in the country’s last general election, which yielded some positive results in the voting process.
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INEC has always maintained that the BVAS will be utilized in this year’s elections, despite the fact that a number of politicians have expressed reluctance and even gone to court to oppose its deployment.
The electoral body also stated that it has sufficient BVAS devices to conduct elections in all 176,846 polling units nationwide, and that politicians attempting to manipulate the 2023 general elections by purchasing PVCs are wasting their time because the BVAS will reject the biometric data of individuals who are not the original owners of the traded PVCs.