Fraud is a problem that has bedeviled
election managers since the earliest times. One of the more insidious forms of electoral fraud is identity theft
where a voter passes himself off as another and casts his ballots at multiple
locations, effectively skewing results of the election.
Fortunately, election commissions can now tap a rapidly-developing technology called biometric authentication to combat electoral fraud.
Biometric authentication is already widely used
elsewhere. Some notebook computers are
equipped with fingerprint sensors that restrict access to its rightful owners.
Security-conscious facilities have also relied on fingerprint, thumbprint or
iris scan biometrics to restrict comings and goings of unauthorized
entities. Airports, too, have started
utilizing biometrics to heighten security.
Recently, electoral commissions have
started to explore how biometric authentication can make the electoral process
more transparent and credible. In Uganda, for example, President Museveni has
already declared that the 2016 general election in the country will utilize
thumbprint machines to identify genuine voters, eliminating the possibility of
anyone stealing of votes and double-voting.
This technology will finally allow Ugandan
electoral staff to move away from manually authenticating voters –an unreliable and time-consuming process that can, at its worse, serve as enabler for
fraudsters. Obviously, a digitized thumbprint, or some other form of biometric
authentication, is far more difficult to forge than a analog type of
identification.
In an official State House statement,
Museveni said that the election commission it will “use thumbprints to authenticate
voters” and warns would-be fraudsters
that “if you try to steal, the machine will throw you out.”
Although procurement details of biometric
thumbprint readers are yet to be released,
the move is already gaining wide support
from both administration and opposition parties, as well as cause-oriented
groups.
Many are acknowledging that a Biometric Voters Register (BVR) is the “most
credible” protection against multiple registration and multiple votes.
Uganda hopes that this strong multi sectorial
support for biometric authentication will finally pave the way for cleaner and
more honest elections in the country.
