Biometric system good enough for Liberia voter registration, not voting yet — govt

IT vendors have long told prospects that the lead dog in a running pack gets the best view, but the slowest dogs are least likely to plunge off a cliff.

Liberia’s National Elections Commission appears happy forego the view in favor of relative safety and reliability.

It is unclear why the decision was made, but there is much distrust of biometric voter registration, as well as of the NEC.

Commissioners, having use biometric ID in their voter registration campaign, seemingly with success, will not be using biometrics during the upcoming balloting.

News publication Front Page Africa says commission chair Davidetta Browne Lansanah has decided manual ballots will be cast October 10 in the general and presidential elections.

Lansanah reportedly gave the news to candidates this week.

Biometrics in voting is “a technological advancement,” she is quoted in Front Page Africa saying, but it “will be done incrementally” in Liberia.

Biometrics reportedly has already done a great service for the nation. The algorithm spotted 3,634 voters (out of a total 2.4 million who registered) who together created 27,000 duplicate registrations.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometrics  |  elections  |  Liberia  |  voter registration