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2007: INEC may spend N13bn on new voting system � Nothern governors meet on power shift
Yusuf Alli, Abuja.
If the Federal Government approves electronic voting sys-tem for the 2007 poll, the Independent National Electoral Commission may spend N13 billion to import equipment designed for the exercise.
Our correspondent learnt that the prototype of the device, known as Direct Recording Equipment, will arrive Nigeria in the next few weeks for test running.
It was learnt that INEC decided to recommend the use of the DRE for the 2007 poll during its in-house technical session about two weeks ago.
Investigations revealed that INEC management considered five election options but settled for the DRE model.
The other options examined were Paper Ballot, Lever Machine, Punch Card and Optically Scanned Ballot.
According to a document prepared by INEC on the DRE model, which was exclusively obtained by our correspondent in Abuja on Sunday, the recent successful conduct of elections in India encouraged the plan.
Although the document claimed that the DRE had equally been designed in United States, the commission strongly favoured the Indian model with additional fraud proof device.
The document read in part, �Auto-Mark Technical Systems, formerly Vogue Electronic Systems, has produced machine that combines touch screen technology and optical scan technology.
�Essentially, a touch screen voting machine would produce an optical scan ballot. The system displays an optical scan ballot on a touch screen; the marked ballot is returned and counted by an optical scan machine-only a paper ballot is recorded.
�Another variant of this machine prints out ballot paper with a bar code which is used for vote count.�
As a way of preventing manipulation of the DRE and muddling votes, INEC recommended that there should be a counter-check of vote count through a Verified Paper Audit Trail.
I n the document, INEC said, �It is also possible for the voter to leave the booth with a slip to show that he or she has voted. This is called Verified Paper Audit Trail.
�This means in case of a dispute or a crash, there would be manual hand count alternative that can be done. This will certainly be a desirable option for our environment.��
INEC described the N13 billion budget for the DRE as modest.
�A unit of voting machine used during the last India elections cost less than Euro 600, this may amount to $1,000. It is likely that the value would have fallen to less than $900 before we will need ours,� the commission said.
�So, we need $900 x 120,000 polling units and this amounts to $100,000, 000. This is about N13, 104,000 billion which is much less than what had been expended on the National Identity Card Project,� it added.
In what appeared a defence of the proposed budget for the equipment, INEC said, �India without oil spent four times this amount for the machine. Democracy is much cheaper than the cost we have been paying for dictatorship.�
The document warned against over reliance on donor agencies to choose a suitable voting system for the 2007 poll.
�It is true the donor agencies are made to help in concrete ways instead of making us consume what we do not produce and produce what we do not consume,� it said.
But the INEC document claimed that the National Assembly was not favourably disposed to its proposal for pilot experiment of electronic voting equipment during its budget defence.
A source at the commission said that INEC would consult all stakeholders after test running the DRE prototype.
When our correspondent checked the website of the Electoral Commission of India, it was shown that the DRE would be supplied to the commission by the government-run Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) which is based in Bangalore and the Electronics Corporation of India in Hyderabad.
The General Manager of Bharat Electronics Limited, Mr. N.N. Simha, was quoted as saying that several other countries have shown interest in the machines.
�We are working on a model for European countries and also for the US,� Simha told the British Broadcasting Corporation News Online.
He said that when the EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) had an experimental outing in five state elections last November, they drew a fascinated reaction from the electorate in rural areas.
�You won�t believe the kind of response,� said Simha.
�Some of them were thrilled to punch the machines. I have seen so many happy villagers.�
He rejected criticism that rural voters, used to balloting with a thumb impression, were not comfortable with hi-tech gadgets.
�It is easy to operate, even by the illiterate,� he added.
Each EVM can record five votes a minute or an estimated 2,700 in a polling day.
The Punch, June 28, 2004
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