Observers, voters laud smart card reader in Ekiti

The mock demonstration of the smart card reader for the 2015 general election was conducted on Saturday at Ward 9 in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State.
The ward, which is made up of 46 polling units, has a total registered voters of about 21,631, out of which over 14,461 had collected their Permanent Voter Cards.
It was observed that officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission arrived the various polling units as early as 7am.
However, there was low turn out at all the units visited.
At polling units A and B opposite Christ School Boys, Ado, the presiding officer, who declined to give his name, said the smart card had been able to accredited 12 PVCs as at 8:44am, adding that it took an average of about 10 seconds for a card to be verified.
He said the machine spent five seconds to accredit the first voter, 10 seconds for the second and four seconds for the third person.
At Ado/Daleymore, the Presiding Officer, Omolayo Olufunke, said the machine spent four seconds to accredit the first card, adding that the smart cart card reader spent five seconds to accredit the second person.
Olufunke said only five persons had so far been accredited as at 8:06am.
In separate interviews, international observers and voters in the state lauded the usage of the Smart Card Readers for the conduct of the election.
Though, the turnout of voters was not that impressive, but practical demonstration of the machines gave conviction that it would not be time-wasting or lead to the disenfranchisement of voters on the day of election as being contemplated.
At Ward 002 at about 11:30am, about 60 voters had been accredited with the aid of Smart Card Readers and the Technical Officers revealed that the average time for the
accreditation ranges between four and six seconds.
Similarly, at Ajitadidun/Olora’s compound unit 006, the average time of accreditation ranges between five and 13 seconds.
International Observers, Rumi Ana Decheva and Uros Urstga of European Union Election Observers, who monitored the exercise in the ward, commended the INEC for the initiative, saying it would help in adding credibility to the country’s election.
Former Commissioner for Tourism under ex-Governor Kayode Fayemi’s government, Alhaji Ayodele Jinadu, and ex-Chairman, Ado Ekiti Local Government Area, Sunday Ibitoye, described the exercise as a huge success, which cannot be easily compromised by poll riggers.
In an interview with journalists, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Sam Olumekun, who monitored the exercise, said the mock accreditation has convinced Nigerians about
the usefulness and relevance of the machines in the coming general elections.
Olumekun said cases of those whose fingerprints cannot be captured during verification, particularly the aged people and those in possession of non-readable PVCs, would have their issues reported to the INEC headquarters in Abuja.
He said: “We would have appreciated if the turnout has been better than this, but we have been able to convince the people about the workability of the machines, which was the main issue.
“We are compiling the list of those who cannot be accredited with these machines.
“Their cases will be reported to Abuja for necessary actions.
“If you see the number of times it required to get people accredited, one will be convinced that the Smart Card Reader has been a success.
“Some spent even less than two seconds, some four seconds and some not accredited at all.
“We are compiling the Incident Report Forms to be able to look into all these variations and come out with a form to address the issue.”
Decheva said she was impressed by the turnout.
She said emphasis should be on the workability of the machines and not rely on the
number of participants.
She said: “I think the practicability of these machines have been confirmed.
“Each voter spent less than five seconds and by this it is not going to waste time contrary to insinuations.”
A voter, Ojo Taiwo, who was verified at Dallimore Unit 002, applauded the electoral body for the initiative, saying it will help in checking rigging during the election.
Taiwo said: “I spent less than five seconds to get accredited.
“I am happy about one thing: if I had brought a fake PVC, the machine would have detected it and anything that could detect fraud is good to be used for election.
“So, I support the usage of these machines.”