Written by EDITOR Saturday, 28 February 2015

QUESTION 1: Why use Card Readers?

Answer: For the first time in Nigeria’s electoral history, electronic voter
authentication system, with the aid of smart card readers, is being deployed
for the 2015 general elections. Using Card Readers has enormous advantages,
which include:
Once configured, the Card Reader can only read Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs)
issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Any person
that shows up at the polling unit without a PVC or with a card not issued by
INEC will not be able to vote.
The Card Reader reads the embedded chip on the PVC, not the barcode, and it
shares a secret code with the PVC; thus it is impossible to falsify the cards.
The Card Reader authenticates the identity of the voter by cross-matching
his/her fingerprints with that stored on the embedded chip. No person can
vote using another person’s PVC.
The Card reader keeps a tally of all cards read, comprising the details of all
voters verified as well as those not verified, and transmits the collected
information to a central INEC server via GSM data service.
Information transmitted to the server will enable INEC to audit results from
polling units, as well as do a range of statistical analysis of the demographics
of voting.
Collation officers will also be able to use information transmitted by the Card
Reader to audit polling unit result sheets and determine whether accreditation
figures have been altered.

Question 2: Is the usage of Card Readers for 2015 elections legal?

Answer: The use of the Card Reader for the purpose of accreditation of voters
is one of the innovations introduced by the Commission to improve the
integrity of the electoral process. It does not violate the Electoral Act 2010, as
Amended, or the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as
Amended. It adds value to the process in line with the yearnings of Nigerians
for credible elections, and accords with international best practices. Whereas
the Electoral Act prohibits the use of electronic voting, the Card Reader is not
a voting machine and is not used for voting. The Card Reader is used only for
accreditation of voters, and only accreditation (and not voting) data is
transmitted by it.

Question 3: How does the Card Reader work?

Answer: The Card Reader uses a highly secure cryptographic technology that
is used commonly in devices that need to perform secure transactions, such as
paying terminals. It has ultra-low power consumption, with a single core
frequency of 1.2GHz and an Android 4.2.2. Operating System. The INEC staff
operating the Card Reader will scan the PVC of each voter to verify its
genuiness before allowing the voter to get accredited. It takes an average of 10
to 20 seconds to authenticate a voter.

Question 4: How long is the battery life of the Card Reader?

Answer: The Card reader has a 3200mAh battery, which can lasts for about 12
hours in continual usage when fully charged. The device hibernates when not
in use to save and lengthen the battery life.
Question 5: Who operates the Card Reader at the Polling Unit?
Answer: An Assistant Presiding Officer (APO) at the polling unit has the
responsibility to operate the Card Reader. Poll officials that will operate the
Card Readers have received extensive hands-on training and are well equipped
to handle the task. The Commission has also painstakingly outlined the
operational procedures in its ‘Approved Guidelines and Regulations for the
Conduct of 2015 General Elections’.

Question 6: Have the Card Readers been tested ahead of the 2015 general
elections?

Answer: The Card Reader units have been broadly subjected to simulation
Quality Assurance, Integrity and Functionality tests and INEC has full
confidence in their performance for election purposes. The device has also been
subjected to Performance and Conformance Test, both locally and in Texas,
United States, laboratories by the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
Research Centre and found to be of the highest quality grade. Besides all these,
and with additional time resulting from the rescheduling of the 2015 general
elections, the Commission has directed that Stress Test be conducted on the
Card Reader device in mock election scenarios – two states in each of the six
geo-political zones – ahead of the new election dates. (Details of this exercise
will be unveiled by the Commission next week.)

Question 7: Can the Card Reader fail to function?

Answer: Going by the results of tests already conducted, it is highly unlikely
that the Card Reader will fail on Election Day. Still, INEC has drawn up serial
intervention plans in the unlikely event of the Card Readers failing.
Should there be a challenge with battery power for the device, the Commission
has procured more than 35,000 back-up batteries that can be rapidly deployed.
If the device itself fails in the course of accreditation, the Commission has
procured more than 26,000 spares that can be rapidly deployed in replacement
within the scheduled accreditation hours of 8a.m. – 1p.m. Whatever time is
lost on these scheduled hours in the course of replacement will be added and
accreditation extended beyond 1p.m. to compensate for the lost time.
In the extremely unlikely and isolated event that a faulty Card Reader can’t
be replaced within the scheduled accreditation hours, INEC has come to a firm
agreement with political parties that the exercise be repeated the following
day rather than revert to manual accreditation.
These procedures, which registered political parties have agreed to, have been
written into the ‘Approved Guidelines and Regulations for the Conduct of 2015
General Elections’.

Question 8: What if the Card Reader verifies a voter’s PVC but his/her
fingerprints cannot be authenticated?

Answer: The Commission has come to an agreement with registered political
parties on what to do: namely that if a voter’s PVC has been read and it is
evident that he/she is the legitimate holder of the card, but the fingerprints
cannot be authenticated (or he/she doesn’t have fingers), the Presiding Officer
of the voting point will complete an incident form and the voter will be
accredited to vote. Party Agents and Observers would be there to witness to
this.

Question 9: Is it possible to accredit all voters who turn out within the
stipulated hours for accreditation using the Card Reader?

Answer: The accreditation of a voter, using the Card Reader, is estimated to
last an average of 10 to 20 seconds per voter. Even if we double this time to 20
to 45 seconds for planning purposes, and working on the basis of a maximum
of 750 voters per voting point, and using a generous projection of 70% voter
turnout (the average being 54% from past elections), which equates to 525
voters, the card reader will need 6.5hours to process all the voters. This is
well within the operating time for the elections as well as the battery life of
the Card reader.

Question 10: How is the Card Reader programmed?

Answer: To prevent fraudulent use, the Card Rader is configured to work only
on Election Days. In addition, the device is configured to specific polling units
and cannot be used elsewhere without requiring reconfiguration by authorised
INEC personnel.

Question 11: How has the INEC’s Card Reader addressed the problems
experienced in other countries in the sub-region?

Answer: The challenge with a few of the Card Reader devices in Ghana, for
instance, during the country’s 2012 general elections was the battery power,
apparently because the affected devices were not fully charged. It was in
learning from this experience that INEC designed the Card Readers to be used
in the 2015 elections with 12-hour battery life in active usage, and also
procured more than 35,000 units of back-up batteries. The imperative of
adequate charging of the Card Readers is underscored during the trainings of
election personnel.
The supposed technology failures during Kenya’s general elections in 2013 had
nothing to do with card readers, as the country used computer poll books for
accreditation. The challenge was rather with the electronic system used in
transmitting results, and not card readers.

GUARDIAN FEBRUARY 28, 2015