Procedures For 2019 General Elections – INEC

With the 2019 General Election already close by, we at IGoSabi have decided to inform the public on the new guidelines laid down by the Nigerian Electoral body, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) 

The latest upgrades for this year election is that accreditation and voting will be done simultaneously.

This is a welcome development as compared to the past when voters will have to get accredited and then wait for hours to vote.

Below is the guideline for this year election as released by INEC:

“Accreditation and voting shall commence at 8.00am and close at 2:00pm, provided that all voters already on the queue by 2:00pm shall be allowed for accreditation and voting,” the guidelines read.

“(a) The accreditation process shall comprise reading of the Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) and authentication of the voter’s fingerprint using the SCR; checking of the Register of Voters and inking of the cuticle of the specified finger of the voter.”

ON USE OF CARD READER
According to the guideline, in the situation where a smart card reader malfunctions, voting will be suspended till a new card reader arrives.

“(b) Where a replacement Smart Card Reader is not available by 2:00pm, the Presiding Officer or APO(VP) as the case may be shall:

i. inform the Supervisory Presiding Officer (SPO), the Electoral Officer (EO), and the Electoral Operations Support Centre (EOSC) of the situation; ii. file a report of the incident; and
iii. inform the voters and polling agents that accreditation and voting for the affected Polling Unit, Voting Point Settlement, and Voting Point shall continue the following day.”

“(c) Where a Smart Card Reader (SCR) is replaced in the middle of an election, the data of verified voters in the faulty SCR shall be merged with data in the replacement SCR for purposes of determining the number of verified voters.”

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ON USE OF PHONES AND OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES

“Telephones and other electronic devices capable of taking pictures are not allowed in voting cubicles. Voters may come to the Polling Unit with telephones and other electronic devices provided that they do not take them to the voting cubicles or take pictures of other oters while they are voting.”

WHEN A VOTER’S NAME IS NOT ON THE REGISTER OF VOTERS

According to the guidelines, “where a voter’s PVC is read but the name of the voter is not on the Register of Voters, APO II shall refer the voter to the PO or APO (VP) who shall politely request the voter to leave the Polling Unit.

“(d) In the event that the PVC fails to be read by the Smart Card Reader, the APO I shall refer the voter to the PO or APO (VP) who shall politely request the voter to leave the Polling Unit.

“Any person who presents the PVC of another person with an intention to use it to vote, shall not be allowed to vote and may be liable to arrest and prosecution.”

In another update, Members of the public are urged to go and pick up their PVC before the general election slated for Feb. 16.

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