If it gets its way, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will use electronic voting machines for the 2021 general election. The electoral body said it would pilot the machines “at the earliest possible time…but work towards full introduction of electronic voting in major elections starting from 2021.” It made clear the piloting would not be in the Edo State governorship election scheduled for September 19, and Ondo State governorship poll on October 10.
In a document titled “Policy on Conducting Elections in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic” issued last week, the commission highlighted the critical role ICT will henceforth play in “an electoral process that is being vastly reshaped by the pandemic, as well as the growing demands by Nigerians for the deepening of the use of technology in our elections.” To that end, it said it would ramp up the use of “value-for-money technology in all aspects of the electoral process and election management.” Among others, it is migrating some of its operations from manual to online platforms. These include accreditation of observer groups and deployment of their field observers, submission of candidates’ nomination forms by political parties, tracking and reporting of campaigns and campaign finance by/for candidates and political parties, and submission of party agents’ lists by political parties. It added that in accreditation and deployment of observers henceforth, it shall request and receive applications for election observation exclusively online.
The aspiration by INEC to digitalise voting in future elections is noble and promises to enhance the credibility of elections in Nigeria, provided the commission is working at perfecting requisite skills to make this happen. Technology is already involved in our polls with the use of chip-embedded permanent voter cards (PVCs) and electronic smart card readers (SCRs). But the electoral body has been known to struggle with frequent failure of these tools, such as to compel their being dumped and recourse taken to hitherto sidelined manual alternatives in past elections. Of course, reports on recent elections by INEC and poll observers suggest the commission is progressively improving on this score. But it will have to work much harder to get much better – especially now that it is aiming at taking on more digital tools for the conduct of polls.
Perhaps there is a more fundamental issue of the legal framework. Thankfully, Section 52 (2) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as Amended) that previously prohibited the use of electronic voting machine has been reworked to provide that “Voting at an election under this act shall be in accordance with the procedure determined by the Independent National Electoral Commission” under the Electoral Amendment Act 2015. But there are other provisions that may constrain the use of technology, such as Sections 48 and 49 of same law that prescribe rigidly manual procedures of conducting the ballot on Election Day. It is these provisions, for instance, that currently make Diaspora voting as well as remote or postal voting impossible. It will not be out of place for INEC to engage the National Assembly and the executive arm of government from now towards getting yet more latitude to design voting procedures and accommodate liberal use of technology, so as to give it a better handle on how to deploy the electronic voting system when it is introduced. The present realities from COVID-19 already make clear the inevitability of a new normal going forward.
In all of this, ready compliance by the political elite with whatever system is put in place will be key. The electoral commission must thus intensify engagement with this critical bloc of stakeholders to get their firm commitment to playing strictly by the rules.