The Science of optimisation and sustainability of elections – credibility of biometric technology
Some African countries are adopting biometric voter identification techniques to combat fraud, protect data, manage complex political processes, boost security, boost voter confidence as well as to curb overspending.
South Africa-based African Biometric Society has forecast that the use of the technology would grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23% from 2011-2013 and Ghana’s Electoral Commission (EC) has drawn up a programme to use the technology for the 2012 general elections.
Biometric technology or techniques were globally in use or under investigation at the commencement of the 21st Century due to its credible applicability.
These include recognition of facial features, fingerprints, hand or earlobe geometry, eye structures, signatures (graphology) and voice waves as well as Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) processes with the fingerprint being the widely used or preferred technology.
The technology entails the automation of methods that relates to identity-confirmation and security techniques that rely on measurable individual biological or behavioural characteristics.
In the identification module of fingerprint system, for instance, a biometric sensor scans the characteristics of an applicant and converts it into a digital format as template. A feature matcher then compares the representation against the template for easy recall, which guarantees authenticity.
In the enrolment module, biometric sensors scan the characteristics of the user by a computer programming known as feature extractor which processes the image onto a template that holds information in a database or smart card, containing small plastic card with microchip that stores personal data for easy verification.
Biometric verification system is therefore to verify or reject “the claimed user identity.”
Apart from using the concept to run elections worldwide, it has been deployed in the banking industry, computer and internet enterprises, driving industry, immigration, crime and law enforcement, telecommunication, aerospace system, electric power and consumer electronics.
The biometric concept, based on bodily measurements, physical description and photograph was invented by Alphonse Bertillon, Chief of Criminal Identification Division of the Police Department in Paris, France, in 1880.
The characteristics of biometric technique include universality, uniqueness, permanence, collectability, and inalterability and so ensure greater credibility for identification, authentication, verification and recognition processes.
The government of Ghana has given the assurance that it would give GHc 236 million and to jump-start processes towards a biometric registration exercise and procurement of logistics including verification machine for the 2012 general elections.
Biometric voter registration and elections in general have not been full-proof in the determination of free and fair elections but outcomes have been generally more credible to reduce suspicion to the barest minimum.
The Head of Public Affairs of the EC, Christian Owusu Parry, described the government’s pledge as timely and commended it for assisting in fulfilling its mandate.
“The EC intends to capture 10 fingerprints in addition to photographs of applicants in a bid to double seal all avenues for impersonation and other electoral fraud,” he said.
Mr Perry added “Biometric registration exercise is comparatively more expensive than the manual system in the short-term due to the importation cost build-up of technical equipment but once this is procured, subsequent elections become invariably cheaper.”
Meanwhile, political parties, civil society organisations and other stakeholders have hailed the government’s move, describing it as positive but said its action was behind the schedule of EC’s time-table but the EC says there was some manageable time for the exercise.
The groups are of the view that since the exercise involves the introduction of a new technology into Ghana’s electoral system, adequate preparation was needed by the EC, political parties and the voting public to ensure a smooth transfer of technical know-how and knowledge.
The presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, acknowledged the science and efficiency of biometric technique in delivering credible election results.
“My conviction is that this technology is most credible and reliable with the capacity to stem mass thump printing and stuffing of ballot papers, curb snatching of ballot boxes, impersonation, errors due to manual collation and multiple registration, which usually trigger electoral violence” he said.
Mr Gabby AsareOtchere-Darko, the Executive Director of the policy think-tank, the Danquah Institute, said he welcomed the government’s decision and commitment to the biometric system and suggested amendments to electoral laws for clearer and stiffer punishment for those arrested for engaging electoral malpractices.
The Editor of the “Daily Dispatch,” Mr Ben Ephson said the biometric technology sanitizes elections, especially the fingerprint technique, which has about 98 percent success rate for eliminating multiple voting, rigging and geared to safeguard post-election trauma and violence.
“The deployment of the science of biometric technology in elections in some African countries such as the Gambia, Nigeria, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe in the recent past drastically minimized voter fraud across board,” he said.
“The adoption and disposition of the biometric elections would curtail the often disputed electoral disputes, which sometimes escalate into unending civil strife,” Dr Ahmed Gedel, a lecturer in School of Applied Sciences of Accra Polytechnic, said and added that the technology was successfully used in Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Togo.
A Togolese national, KokouviAmuzzou, told this writer that the last election in Togo was the freest since the country went democratic. “Results were announced without delay, lessening the possibility of massage, fraud or interference.”
By Maxwell Awumah
Source: GNA