Card Reader’s Different from e- Voting, INEC Chieftain Clarifies

A National Commissioner in the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC), Prof Lai Olurode, has clarified that the Smart Card Reader being proposed for the 2015 general elections, is not synonymous with electronic voting as being erroneously thought in some quarters.

Olurode, INEC National Commissioner in charge of Oyo, Ogun and Ekiti States gave the clarification in Ado Ekiti at the weekend during a meeting with the management staff in Ekiti State, led by Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Sam Olumekun.

Olurode said the basic function of a device that is novel in the country’s electoral system is to verify the Permanent Voter Cards and authenticate the claims of the prospective voters.

He said the fear that the device is synonymous with electronic voting, which contravenes the provision of the Electoral Acts 2010 as amended, was misplaced and unwarranted.

“This device is meant to add credibility to our polls. It has two functions to discharge and that is to verify the PVC as being authentic or fake, and to authenticate whether the voter that brings it is the actual owner because we won’t tolerate the use of cloned cards in this election.

“Smart card reader is not synonymous with electronic voting in any way. We have to make it clear that accreditation will be done on the voter register after your cards have been certified to be authentic and that is where voting starts.

“And we are assuring you that whoever that get accredited will certainly vote because there is no time limit to voting now. Voting will only stop when the last person on the queue votes, but there is limit to accreditation”, he stated.

He urged the staff of the commission to commence on a houseto- house sensitisation campaign to shore up people’s awareness to the collection of PVCs and the placement of the ballot papers.