The Chairman of the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission, Justice Ayotunde Phillips (retd), has said the commission is researching on electronic voting to address voter apathy in the state.

Justice Phillips, who is a former chief judge of Lagos State, said if there was sufficient time, the commission would have adopted e-voting during the 2017 local government elections in the state.

Speaking in an interview with Saturday PUNCH, she said voter apathy was a burning issue and could be better addressed through e-voting.

“I am very excited about e-voting; I think it is a good idea. It will make the voting process much easier for the electorate and also help us tackle the high rate of voter apathy that we’re witnessing now,” she said.

“If I had the time, we would have employed it in the 2017 elections. As we speak now, my officers are doing research on e-voting and what would suit us best in Lagos,” the Justice added.

Voter apathy has characterised most elections in Nigeria, particularly in states like Lagos, even as experts had on various occasions called on the Independent National Electoral Commission and state independent electoral commissions to adopt e-voting to tackle the phenomenon.

During the 2019 governorship and state legislative elections, it was stated that fewer than 19 per cent of voters with Permanent Voter Cards voted in Lagos.

According to the statistics released by the INEC, out of the 6.5 million registered voters in Lagos, 5.5 million obtained the PVCs.

However, only 1,006,074 persons were said to have voted, representing only 18.29 per cent of the PVCs holders in the state.

Speaking further on the issue, Justice Phillips said although e-voting was expensive, it would reduce voter apathy if adopted by the state.

She said, “The high rate of voter apathy is a burning issue for us at the moment. From the figures I have, the turnout for the 2017 local government elections in Lagos State was 10.45 per cent, while for the bye-elections, it was 10.4 per cent.

“We plan to go to markets, schools and other public places to interact with the people and find out what the missing link is. A lot of work needs to be done and it would cost a lot of money, time and energy.”

Justice Phillips, however, said the commission had approached the state government for funds.

“We are waiting for their response so we can hit the streets and work towards the next elections in 2021,” she added.