By Davidetta Browne Lansanah
In an effort to further strengthen the credibility of future elections in Liberia, the National Elections Commission (NEC) has undertaken to migrate from its previous method of voter registration to a more improved technological solution. Over the years, the Commission has used the Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) Technology for its Voter Registration Data Entry process.
However, this method has presented many challenges that make it difficult to resolve in time for the production of a near-flawless voter registration data. Liberia was one of the first countries in West Africa to introduce the use of the OMR system in elections in 2005, and over the years has continued to use the system, despite enduring several challenges with the system.
Some of the challenges faced are; poor shading of OMR forms, inability for voters to understand the OMR forms and verify their information during the registration process, improper marking of forms during the registration exercise, some OMR forms sent from the field after the registration process become non-scannable, and are prone to humidity and improper handling, unintentional loss of data during migration from field offices to the NEC Data Center, massive use of paper during the registration process and technical challenges including breakdown of scanners during scanning of the OMR forms.
A further strain that the Commission faces at the moment is the difficulty in attracting trademark vendors, as companies that previously provided the OMR forms for elections are now focused on the education, health and other sectors due to constant market attractions. To date, Liberia remains the only country that is still using the obsolete OMR technology for its voter registration process. And the periodic cost attached to the use of the OMR technology is also a huge burden to the conduct of major elections in Liberia.
Over the years, especially in the 2017 election, the Final Registration Roll (FRR) was a major tool for debate, resulting to a case that ended up at the Supreme Court, which outlined many challenges that were perceived to have emanated from the production of the FRR. In an effort to lend credibility to the Final Registration Roll (FRR) for the 2020 Special Senatorial Elections and Constitutional Referendum, a joint resolution was issued by the Liberian Legislature, that requested the Commission to work in collaboration with political parties and their technicians during the cleansing of the Voter’s Roll for the conduct of the election.
To this end, the Commission has undertaken to study the numerous challenges associated with the old technology, and has strongly recommended a migration to a more robust method for its voter registration process for the conduct of the 2023 general and presidential elections. It has set its sight on conducting a Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) process to ensure that the records captured will serve as a lifetime record for each registered person, thereby enabling each eligible voter to have their unique biometric features (clear face photo, finger prints) and biographic data (correct spelling of names, age, and gender, etc.) in the Voter Registration database of the Commission.
There are many advantages of the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) system: proper representation of a person’s unique biometric features, a single unique voter identification number for each person in the electoral system, the elimination of voter impersonation, voter trucking, double registration, double voting, and ease of verification on election day for each eligible voter, etc.
While it has been proven that the initial cost of implementing the Biometric Voter Registration system may be high due to the many aspects connected to the process (an initial pilot of the process, training, mobilization, geographic data analysis, Civic and Voter Education, Voter Registration Card Distribution and Gender mainstreaming), it has been proven that this method of voter registration will significantly enhance the integrity of the electoral process and reduce the cost of elections in the future.
With the implementation of the BVR technology, the Commission intends to migrate from periodic to continuous registration of all eligible voters, thereby providing opportunities for Liberians who may turn eighteen (18) years of age to show up at a designated registration center and apply for inclusion to the Voter Registration Roll.
It is the expectation of the Commission that the use of the Biometric Voter Registration technology will be embraced by stakeholders and decision makers, as a tool for Voter Registration and Voter Verification, thereby producing a credible voter roll and an overall electoral process.
The Commission is fully committed to ensuring an enduring democratic process, and is certain that the use of a Biometric Voter Registration System has the capacity to immensely contribute to a more credible voters roll, thereby the sustenance of the democratic gains that Liberia has made over the years.
About the Author: Davidetta Browne Lansanah is the Chairperson of the National Elections Commission (NEC) of Liberia
