Independent electoral and boundary commission, IEBC has announced its plans to purchase new eletronic voter identification devices, evids as part of its preparation to make 2017 elections to run smoothly.
This is a welcome move. In the last general elections, electronic devices failed to work on the material day of voting. This is one of the reasons that made many electorate to doubt the credibility of IEBC.
The purchase of those electronic devices was also done under unclear terms and circumstances.To regain trust, IEBC should make the acquisition of electronic voter identification devices as transparent as possible.
Evids stores the voter's information including a photo, voter card number, identification card number, polling station and it is used to identify voters and varify the details before they are allowed to cast their votes.
The way IEBC will handle the procurement of evids will matter a lot.