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              Nigeria to Begin Testing Voter Card Reader Machines

   by Peter Clottey

   Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) plans on
   Saturday to publicly test card reader machines that will be used in the
   country's March 28 election.

   Nick Dazang, INEC's deputy director for public affairs, says the
   testing of the machines aims to ensure transparency to win the
   confidence of prospective voters ahead of the election.

   "INEC is going to test the card readers and it is going to simulate a
   voting arrangement in wards across the 12 states in six geopolitical
   zones," said Dazang. "The idea is to now further test the card reader
   and to invite stakeholders to see for themselves how these card reader
   works and also to generate confidence".

   The electoral body aims to remove doubts and myths surrounding the
   machines, he added.

   "People will have access to it and confidence in the system will be
   generated and at the end of the day people will accept the card reader
   as something is not threatening or a boogieman, but something that will
   facilitate voting and add value to the electoral process on voting
   day," said Dazang.

   But opponents have threatened to boycott the election if INEC continues
   with its plan to use voter card reader machines during the poll. They
   contend the machine is prone to malfunction, which they say will
   disenfranchise millions of voters and undermine the credibility of the
   election.

   Dazang disagrees.

   "As a matter of fact, for the purpose of this election we ordered for
   182,000 of these card readers," he said. "What we actually need for the
   elections are not actually more than 150,000 copies of the card
   readers, but we made allowance for spares and for redundancies. So that
   on election day when a card reader malfunctions, we can use a spare."

   Dazang said political parties and other stakeholders have been invited
   to monitor the testing of the machines on Saturday. This, he said will
   enable the parties to express any concerns they have for INEC to
   address them ahead of the election.

   "[They should] come and witness for themselves and see that clearly
   that this card reader does not marginalize of disenfranchise anyone
   from the process," said Dazang. "Rather what it does is to authenticate
   whoever presents himself at the polling unit and then after
   authenticating the voter it verifies him and facilitates his
   proceedings to cast his vote that is what it does."

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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/nigeria-to-begin-testing-voter-card-r
   eader-machines/2670786.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/nigeria-to-begin-testing-voter-card-reader-machines/2670786.html