Electronic voting - A reality for Namibia?

Despite a lot of fears and concerns aired (CLICK HERE FOR THAT) since the Electronic Voting Machine has been introduced to the country, Bharat Electronics in India and The Namibian Based ECN have nonetheless  joined hands to make this a reality for the next upcoming Elections. The EVM Machine is finally in its testing phase and it is proving to be a more user friendly tool despite the odds, if distributed in the most fairest manner during its inception come poll day.

two weeks a group of over fifty individuals gathered at various locations around Namibia (We, at Lapalange Lodge) as they attended a two day training Workshop on how to utilise the New system. The E-Voting system is another measure taken by the commission to curb expenses incurred in the purchases of millions of ballot papers and boxes that are costly during these times,and probably another "E" Move from the government.

A selected group of Chief Trainers will be selected from a theory Test conducted during the training, who will further give training to other Namibian youth to  utilise the skills at the upcoming Presidential & National Assembly Elections, I was part of the Candidates to have taken this test.

The Good about the EVM Machine is that.

The design architecture is exactly the same as the Manual voting system, with the Control Unit replacing the Ballot Box and the Ballot Unit replacing the ballot Paper.

Ballot unit (Left)Control Unit (Right)

The New voting system has its bad sides too though, during the workshop I picked up or noticed two things about the EVM(Electronic Voting Machine) like the...

·        lack of electricity supply and the fact that the batteries aren't rechargeable???.the only question that remained unanswered throughout the whole Workshop.

·        The "E" voting machine can only handle amount of 2000 registered voters in its memory.

·        It does not have the memory to recognize the voter’s fingerprint; save the names of the voters, the names in the voters’ register/roll and the voter’s card number or the ballots serial number.

The Indian Technicians ensured the Workshop Attendees that if the right procedures where put in place and that if proper training and security measures were also deployed, this system will go on for many years to come. The system has been used in India for many years, a considered to have a very fruitful democracy.  

More debate on the EVM Machine will be aired on Checko TV Show Coming soon. Like our online TV Channel here NOW...

Check out Workshop Pictures Below....






The Indian technician - Busy demonstrate how a polling station is set up