YNaija Analysis: What can INEC learn from the US elections?

INEC

The US is such a big country. It is 10 times the size of Nigeria, spread over 9 time zones, with over 130 million people voting in the general elections. Yet, their election process every four years is conducted seamlessly and the results begin to trickle out mere hours after most polls across the country close, unlike our INEC.

Yes, the US has been running a democracy since 1776. Yes, they have done this repeatedly. But there are a few things that INEC can learn from them about how to do elections better.

Early voting: Early voting has been in record numbers in this election cycle in the US, with 34 million people casting their ballots before election day. The advantages of this are obvious. It enables people who might be too busy to make it on election day to go to the polling booth, and in a country like Nigeria where transferring your registration from one polling booth to another is a big task, to say the least, allowing early voting will help many more people be a part of the election process. There are a lot of people who could have voted in the 2015 elections, but could not because the polling stations where they registered were too far away from where they currently live. The aim of any election is to be as inclusive as possible, and early voting is one measure that will certainly help with that.

Decentralisation of elections: Waiting on instructions and logistics from INEC all the way in Abuja is very problematic. It is what often accounts for the late arrival of voting materials that further frustrates and disenfranchises voters. Giving more powers to the State Independent Electoral Commissions and their Resident Electoral Commissioners will enable them solve their own problems and enhance the integrity of the process.

Scrap pre-accreditation: Why should a voter have to come out in the morning to first get accredited, before going home then coming back to vote? It’s ridiculous, and INEC should find it relatively easy to change this. Voting should take place immediately after accreditation, so that the voting can happen faster, the queues can be shorter, and the results can be known faster as well. It will enable the official collation to commence much earlier, reducing the space for election fraud. It can also remove the need for restriction of movements, that we seem to have simply accepted as part of elections in Nigeria, and which there is no good reason for. If a polling unit closes by noon because everyone who can vote and wants to vote has voted, there is no reason to prevent their movement.

Electronic voting machines: Electronic voting is done across America using Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) systems. These DRE systems employ computers that record votes directly into the computers’ memory. These interfaces may incorporate touchscreens, dials, or mechanical buttons. The voter’s choices are stored by the computer on a cartridge or hard drive. Some DRE systems are also equipped with a printer, which the voter may use to confirm his or her choices before committing them to the computer’s memory. The paper records can be preserved to be tabulated in case of an audit or recount.

With increased powers and funding given to INEC, it will be able to procure e-voting machines and further speed up the electoral process.

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