Biometric voter verifications for Guinea’s elections secured with IB fingerprint scanners

Integrated Biometrics (IB) says its Kojak PL fingerprint scanners adopted by Innovatrics in the biometric enrollment process for elections in Guinea have been a success and the equipment is now a key component of the West African nation’s new biometric electoral registry.

IB said in a statement that the fingerprint scanners were chosen by Innovatrics when the latter was hired by the Guinean government in 2019 and given six months to develop and install an entirely new biometric registration system and oversee the collection of all biometric data ahead of the March 2020 presidential elections.

After the completion of the first step of the process, which consisted of migrating and cleaning up existing registry data to ensure there were no duplicate records and that every eligible citizen would get just one vote, Innovatrics then turned to IB for the fingerprint scanners when it started the second task of setting up 1,500 enrolment stations across the country, according to the IB statement.

IB’s biometric fingerprint scanners have consistently proved to be the safest and enable fast, easy, reliable enrollment and identity verification in every type of environment, simplifying border crossing, improving access to food and healthcare, preventing bank fraud, and securing the right to a digital identity and the right to vote, the company said in the statement.

IB added that with its scanners, the new biometric system in Guinea was ready in less than six months and was subsequently redeployed to produce the necessary electoral documentation. It was possible to switch the servers to a different task while continuing to provide biometric functions without any additional hardware required, it added.

Guinea’s Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) is said to have hailed the new system after the elections in March and said it was responsible for successful voting.

“Working closely with Innovatrics, we met the challenge of a very fast turnaround, delivering thousands of scanners in just a few weeks, keeping the entire project on track. Free and fair elections are central to the future of Africa. We’re honored to be involved in creating a better future for the people of Guinea,” David Gerulski, Executive Vice President for IB, said after the announcement.

The FBI-certified Kojak PL mobile fingerprint scanner is quite small but produces accurate results. It has an intuitive, ergonomic design, has a weight of less than a 725g (1.6 pounds), and scans four flat prints and single finger rolls within just seconds, according to IB.

The device is also good for systems that are operated in remote terrains and in very terrible weather conditions, and can be used under these condition without negative effects on speed, accuracy and image quality, the company said.

IB notes it has successfully partnered with Innovatrics on a number of projects in the past.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  elections  |  fingerprint scanners  |  Guinea  |  Innovatrics  |  Integrated Biometrics  |  voter identification