FB pixel

Namibia unveils biometric machine for voter registration

 

Namibia is planning to use a biometric voter registration system for its upcoming election and the country’s electoral commission has just launched the machine it will be using to enroll voters.

According to a report in The Namibian, the machines were manufactured in South Africa, and consist of a laptop, fingerprint scanner, camera and signature and barcode scanner.

Voter registration starts on January 15 and ends on March 2 next year. Altogether there are 904 machines as well as generators and back-up kits for emergencies.

“All systems are ready and in place but it is important to note that the success of any electoral process depends on how the electoral and stakeholders are educated about the process,” Electoral Commission chairperson, Notemba Tjipueja said in The Namibian report.

In December, 2012, Ghana held an election using biometric verification devices as the world watched with bated breath. Now, a year after the country’s election, results are still being contested, following much confusion over the status of verification machines during and after the election in Ghana.

This isn’t the first time the biometric system used to verify voters has been called into question after-the-fact.

Reported previously, Henrique Capriles Radonski, leader of the opposition in Venezuela, has demanded an audit of the entire election including fingerprints stored in the election registry, following his party’s loss by less than 2 percent in the country’s recent presidential elections.

Also, following an election in Kenya using biometric verification, the machines were heavily criticized for technical problems which led to long delays and in many cases, non-functional verification devices. 

Article Topics

 |   |   | 

Latest Biometrics News

 

Cyber Threat Observatory workshop advises on protections for national digital ID systems

The Alan Turing Institute launched the Cyber Threat Observatory last year to monitor cyber threats to digital ID systems. The…

 

Kyrgyzstan state printer wades into biometric passport market with Namibia deal

A shipment of 130,000 biometric passports has been sent from Kyrgyzstan to Namibia, after a contract was signed between the…

 

Spanish law among most comprehensive for age checks, kids’ online safety

Among EU nations pursuing child online safety legislation and age verification tools, Spain has been at the forefront. It has…

 

UN cautions govts to safeguard human rights in AI procurement

AI is a major trend of this decade with advancements in the technology having an effect across society, for both…

 

Optimistic plan would pair universal legal identity with basic income program

A new paper calls the lack of legal identity for millions of people around the world one of the “most…

 

Facia declares breakthrough deepfake detection scores

Facia has reached the point where it is scoring perfect accuracy for deepfake detection on third-party datasets, including Meta’s. The…

Comments

6 Replies to “Namibia unveils biometric machine for voter registration”

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Biometric Market Analysis

Most Viewed This Week

Featured Company

Biometrics Insight, Opinion

Digital ID In-Depth

Biometrics White Papers

Biometrics Events