Namibia gears for electronic voting

ALTHOUGH Cabinet has only agreed in principle to consider electronic voting machines (EVMs) for the next national and presidential elections at the end of 2009, the Electoral Commission of Namibia has started training voter education officers on these devices.

About 15 voter education officers started a week-long training course yesterday at a conference centre outside Windhoek and two full days are allocated on these electronic devices. An Indian state-owned enterprise, which also develops defence systems, produces the EVMs and gave a demonstration in Windhoek in October last year.”I encourage you to pay special attention to the training on EVMs and make sure you understand every aspect and obtain clarity,” ECN Commissioner Ruusa Shipiki told the trainees.”People out there will bombard you with countless questions as they are keen to know more about this new initiative,” Shipiki added.EVMs were developed by two Indian state-owned defence equipment manufacturers, Bharat Electronics and Electronics Corporation of India.The system is a set of two devices running on 6V batteries.One device, the voting unit, is used by the voter, and another device, called the control unit, is operated by the electoral officer.The units are connected by a cable.They are said to be tamperproof but according to international news reports, this depends on the integrity of the election officers.Altering electronic voting machines to favour one candidate over another could be done by jamming a button or intentionally altering the ballot design to misidentify a candidate’s political party.Three months before the Indian company came to Namibia last year, a fact-finding mission comprising staff from the ECN, the National Planning Commission and an information technology consultant visited India to study that country’s electronic voting system, which is rated one of the best in the world.Last year, Cabinet in principle approved the introduction of EVMs, but requested more information, especially on what the system would cost, as some 1 600 electronic voting machines would have to be acquired.The ECN was to supply Cabinet with that information, but it could not be established yesterday if this has been done and if a final decision had been taken.An Indian state-owned enterprise, which also develops defence systems, produces the EVMs and gave a demonstration in Windhoek in October last year.”I encourage you to pay special attention to the training on EVMs and make sure you understand every aspect and obtain clarity,” ECN Commissioner Ruusa Shipiki told the trainees.”People out there will bombard you with countless questions as they are keen to know more about this new initiative,” Shipiki added.EVMs were developed by two Indian state-owned defence equipment manufacturers, Bharat Electronics and Electronics Corporation of India.The system is a set of two devices running on 6V batteries.One device, the voting unit, is used by the voter, and another device, called the control unit, is operated by the electoral officer.The units are connected by a cable.They are said to be tamperproof but according to international news reports, this depends on the integrity of the election officers.Altering electronic voting machines to favour one candidate over another could be done by jamming a button or intentionally altering the ballot design to misidentify a candidate’s political party.Three months before the Indian company came to Namibia last year, a fact-finding mission comprising staff from the ECN, the National Planning Commission and an information technology consultant visited India to study that country’s electronic voting system, which is rated one of the best in the world.Last year, Cabinet in principle approved the introduction of EVMs, but requested more information, especially on what the system would cost, as some 1 600 electronic voting machines would have to be acquired.The ECN was to supply Cabinet with that information, but it could not be established yesterday if this has been done and if a final decision had been taken.