[kictanet] BVR, EVID & Transmission of Electoral Results

Fri Dec 30 22:17:02 EAT 2016

Dear Listers,

In my understanding, the use of electronic means to identify voters and to
transmit results is more about the integrity of the election than
efficiency of the process.

Therefore, when we say we need a fall back system, we should look at a
solution that not only safeguards fulfilment of the bill of rights as
regards the right to vote. The solution should also have in itself a
fallback mechanism that safeguards the integrity of the electoral process
as envisaged by the notion of "electronic means".

Simply reverting to "manual" appears a little too simplistic. This is
because the spirit behind the law's insistence on "electronic" is that of
safeguarding the voter identification process by way of biometric
technology for instance. As technologists we will easily have consensus
that biometric person identification is much more fool proof as regards
positive identification than its manual alternatives (therefore not letting
in the so called ghosts.

Likewise, the spirit behind electronic transmission of presidential vote
tallies from the polling station is to safeguard the integrity of the
tallying and aggregation process. This ostensibly reduces chances of crooks
tampering with signed tally forms (form 34s and form 36s) later on, after
the tallies have been announced at the polling stations.

Therefore as we consider the matter of "what if the system fails?", it may
be that to maintain the spirit and intention of safeguarding the integrity
of the vote, a fall back process needs to ensure that the integrity of the
vote is not compromised.

For instance, why would we insist on a manual back up when both the primary
system and the redundant system could be electronic. As it may have been
said, in the case of presidential tally transmission, GSM technology could
constitute the  primary system. Then in areas where GSM connectivity is
absent or doubtful, a small deployment of vsat or satellite phones could
provide redundancy. It could even be a temporary Wimax arrangement in
specific geographical locations. It could also be that a extra government
supported investment in GSM for areas of doubt between now and June 2017 is
possible. Of course commercial viability is an issue but the bill of rights
argument also appears to invoke the essence of the Universal Access Fund.
As one may argue, the general election is one of the crucial activities
where every citizen can exercises article 1 and article two of the
constitution, and it happens once every five years. Arguably there might be
no better use of the Universal Access Fund than for facilitating the
exercise of article 1 and article 2 of the constitution.

As regards voter identification (for EVIDs), there is people with very
sweaty fingers. Others may have had accidents in the period preceding the
election, causing amputation of the fingers linking them to the biometric
register. Therefore such identification failure is plausible.

Notwithstanding the possibility of EVID failure, if incidences of such
failure exceed 5% or say a certain threshold in a polling station, then
something would be amiss and should raise a red flag. It could either be a
cultural / environmental challenge in the geography of that polling
station, or it could be a case of power issues with the gadgets, or as some
would say, it might be "artificial" failure to facilitate "ghost" voters.

Regardless of the cause of EVID failure, and in the spirit of safeguarding
the integrity of the election, it will help that every EVID failure
instance triggers a sequence of well documented steps that can guarantee
verifiability of a positive "manual" identification of the voter.

The easy one of EVID failures to solve is the instance of power (battery)
failure. It should not be impossible to eliminate this through better
training of IEBC staff and pre-charging devices. More so, increased rural
electrification in the last 4 years might contribute more to alleviation of
this challenge.

In conclusion, it seems important for those dealing with the Election Law
Amendment to separate the two issues (1) The bill of rights and the right
of every Kenyan (who has registered as a voter) to vote.
(2) Safeguarding the integrity of the vote through ensuring we have up non
corruptible, verifiable and auditable electoral systems. More specifically,
voter identification and presidential tally transmission appear to be areas
of enhancement.

That's my 2016 five cent opinion on this electoral law matter.

Happy 2017 everyone!..

On Dec 30, 2016 11:59, "Mutemi wa Kiama via kictanet" <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

Hi Listers,

In the debates I have seen raging online and elsewhere about need for a
non-IT based backup system, the ICT Ministry and Communications Authority
are quoted talking about the 3G coverage in the country or lack thereof. No
one is talking about 2G and Satellite phone coverage. Isn't most of the
country covered by 2G? Does it mean we suddenly can't transmit data over 2G
which we used to before 3G? Interesting that the same Safaricom whose Mpesa
can't be hacked by Al Shabaab can have electoral results transmission
hacked (According to CS Joe Mucheru)! Are we suddenly analogue because
elections are approaching?

Could experts here appear before the senate committee on Elections Act next
week and save this country from an impending calamity driven by ignorance
around ICT?

a bewildered Edwin Kiama!

Thoughts become things... choose the good ones!

*-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**Social
Justice Entrepreneur, Human Rights Defender, *
*#DevolutionIsRevolution Champion*

*The Wanjiku Agenda Kenya Foundation (WAKenya)*Ordinary, fearless Kenyans.
https://www.facebook.com/wanjikurevolutionkenya
https://twitter.com/WanjikuRevolt
https://plus.google.com/u/1/+WanjikuMapinduzi/posts
http://www.scribd.com/wmkenya

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change
the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." *~Margaret Mead*

_______________________________________________
kictanet mailing list
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet

Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/
mailman/options/kictanet/jkieti%40gmail.com

The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for
people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.

KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20161230/ab053b20/attachment.htm>