Senate amends Electoral Act, okays electronic voting for 2019 elections
The Senate has considered report of its committee on INEC titled, “a Bill for an Act to amend the Electoral Act No.6 2010 and other Related Matters” and consequently passed it as a Bill on Thursday after its third reading.
The Senate said, the Bill was intended to strengthen the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by giving it more powers, and providing for the substitution of candidates after the conduct of primary election in the event of death, and for other related matters.
The Bill, after being harmonised with the House of Representatives would be sent to President Muhammadu Buhari for his assent before it becomes a law or an Act.
The Senate also passed amendments to the Electoral Act 2010, approving the use of electronic voting in future elections just as it approved that election results should be electronically transmitted to collation centres.
Section 52 (2) of the Bill states that “The Commission shall adopt electronic voting in all elections or any other method of voting as may be determined by the Commission from time to time.”
“This amendment mandates e-voting without ambiguity but also give the Commission discretion to use other methods if it is impracticable to use e-voting in any election.”
Major highlights of the new Bill include provision for the use of electronic voting by INEC during future elections, authenticate the use of smart card reader, as a means of accrediting voters and also gives INEC power to modify the voting process if there is a challenge.
The commission is mandated to use any electronic devices for accreditation and voting.
The Senate also approved a provision to enable INEC do instant transmission of result from each polling unit by the commission to its central data centre, since according to the Senate, the electoral problem has not been connected to voting but its collation by the commission.
To address the incident that happened in Kogi State, during last governorship election, the amended Electoral Act provides that if a candidate dies before the results of elections are declared, the results will not only remain valid but belongs to the political party that lost its candidate.
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