By O. G. Ogbom, Esq

Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) is an electronic device designed to read Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and authenticate voters using the voters’ fingerprints in order to prove that they are eligible to vote at a particular polling unit. It’s usage entails either scanning the barcode/QR code on the PVC/Voter’s register or entering the last six digits of the Voter Identity Number or typing in the last name of the voter by the Assistant Presiding Officer (APO 1) to verify and authenticate the voter. The APOs are required to ask the voter to place the appropriate finger on the spot provided on the BVAS; and if the fingerprint match fails, he captures the photo of the voter for authentication.The first primary obligation of the BVAS, is the verification of the genuineness of the PVCs and the fingerprint or facial authentication of voters during accreditation, to replace the Z-pad for uploading the polling unit results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) in real time on Election Day and also acts as the INEC Voter Enrolment Device (IVED) during voter registration. The use of BVAS, appears to have eliminated the use of incident forms during accreditation on an election day.

Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) got its validity or prominence under section 64(6) of the Electoral Act 2023. The section provides this:
sub 6)
“Where during collation of results, there is a dispute regarding a collated result or the result of an election from any polling unit, the collation officer or returning officer shall use the following to determine the correctness of the disputed result”
a) the original of the disputed collated result for each polling unit where the election is disputed ;
b) the smart card readers or other technological device used for the accreditation of voters in each polling unit where the election is disputed for the purpose of obtaining accreditation data directly from the smart card reader or technology device ;
(c) data of accreditation recorded and transmitted directly from each polling unit where the election is disputed as prescribed under section 47 (2) of this Act ; and
(d) the votes and result of the election recorded and transmitted directly from each polling unit where the election is disputed, as prescribed under section 60 (4) of this Act.
Sections 47 (2) of the 2022 Electoral Act says that to vote, the presiding officer shall use the smart card reader or any other technological device that maybe prescribed by the commission for the accreditation of voters to “verify, authenticate the intending voter in the manner prescribed by the commission.”

According to INEC guidelines, BVAS shall be the only mode of accreditation for the purpose of the election. All voters are subject to it before they are issued with ballot papers to vote. After elections, the results are then collated and entered manually on INEC form EC8As. More importantly, the number of voters on INEC Form EC8A must never exceed the number of accredited voters on BVAS. If that happens, over-voting would be established and the implication is automatic cancellation of the result of the affected polling unit as prescribed by the Electoral Act 2022.

The introduction of this technological device, has given hope to voters as it is believed that electoral fraud and manipulation will be curtailed . This has given serious hopes to those who want credible elections and has created panic in those who cannot win clean and fair elections, those who collaborate with security agents and some disgruntled INEC staff to manipulate themselves to victory. The typical Nigerian voter is tired of such manipulations and would want to do anything legal to protect his or her votes

In spite of the introduction of BVAS, there are still fears that the technology can still create issues which the politicians might capitalize on. This can be seen in the use of BVAS and that of the end server. According to the Independent National Electoral Commission, BVAS does not use data or network but the back end server does.

The information loaded in the BVAS May not all drop at the same time or may not drop at all because of the back end server network and technology inadequacies. This is the reason why the physical inspection of the entries in BVAS by agents of political parties is very important, to be sure of number of voters that have been accredited. What this means is that, it is possible for some data from BVAS not to be transmitted to the INEC server as a result of lack of network at the back end or when it has not been “synchronised” by INEC to have all the results transmitted. When this happens, it does not necessarily mean that there’s over voting, it merely means that some data has been left out which certainly will be collated as soon as it is captured by the sever or when synchronized.The BVAS stores the number of accredited voters; however, the stored data is not transmitted electronically or published on the IReV portal. Electronically transmitting the number of accredited voters is in accordance with Section 64(4)(5)(6) of the Electoral Act 2022, the section states that the number of accredited voters recorded and transmitted directly from the polling unit shall be considered in the collation and announcement of results.

Like some writers have stated, there is need for INEC to make significant investment in the training of polling unit officials, with a focus on result transmission, ballot paper accounting as well as the capturing of polling unit results using the BVAS. All poll officials with the responsibility of handling the BVAS should undergo practical simulation sessions using the BVAS before election day. Expectedly, this policy action will address the capacity deficits.

Whatever the case, the Electoral Act is clear on the meaning of over voting. Section 51 (2) defines over voting as:

“Where the number of votes cast at an election in a polling unit exceeds the number of accredited voters in that polling unit”.

By virtue of section 51(2) of the Electoral Act 2023, the law is clear to the fact that it will make no sense to dwell on or take advantage of discrepancies in the BVAS and the back end sever without tying it to this particular section. It is not enough to show that there are discrepancies, it must also conform with section 51 of the Electoral Act.

There is no doubt that Nigerians want to go to polls with the assurance that the BVAS and IReV will protect their vote and make it count. We hope against hope that indeed, it will count.

O.G. Ogbom, Esq, is a Partner at Law Freight Attorneys. He can be reached via [email protected].