New Voting Technology Works to Prevent Fraud in Zambia Election | Voice of America - English
Voters in Zambia will go to the polls on October 30 to elect a new president, following the death of President Levy Mwanawasa in late August. The electoral commission says it?s going to use a new computer technology for voter identification cards ? a biometric system. The machines will be able to analyze hair color, fingerprints and eye retinas and irises so as to produce genuine voters? cards. It?s all part of an effort to help reduce voter fraud.  But some say the system is open to manipulation.
The electoral regulatory body, the Electoral Commission ofZambia, says the new biometric system will prevent thousands of duplicateregistrations. The system storespersonal information on a smart card carried by the voter to the votingbooth. Brenda Zulu is an independentinformation technology consultant working with Zambia?s electoral commission. She says, ?[Thebiometric system] is very effective because when people register to vote, thename only appears once on the voters? rolls. In the case that the same detailsappear twice -- the system ejects the second entry. It is easy and quick.? The electoralcommission says it will hold meetings to address concerns about possible errorsor failures. It will use the meetings to explain the new system to stakeholders such aspolitical parties. Brenda Zulu says the system will be tested before ElectionDay: ?The only concern is that we havegot a problem with the power supply in most rural areas. That is the onlybiggest challenge. Because without electricity, it is very [difficult] tooperate computer, fax and/or scanner machines or to post election results toelection headquarters in Lusaka from far-away areas. ? The threepresidential candidates are acting president Rupiah Banda, Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party forNational Development and Michael Sata of the Patriotic Front Party. Inthe United States, mechanical voting machines and punch card systems have beenwidely used to record votes. But now they, too, are being replaced by optical scanningdevices.