Biometric voter verification machines slow down polling in Jinja city

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Biometric Voter Verification Kits-BVVK machines have contributed to the slow pace of voting at the different polling stations within Jinja city.

Most of the BVVK machines experienced network breakdown and voters would spend close to seven minutes verifying their details before being cross-checked in the voters registers.

Presiding officers who spoke to URN on condition of anonymity say that some machines failed to display details of voters in the registers which created anxiety at the different polling stations. They later resolved to run the election without BVVK machines under contention from agents of some candidates.

Jeff Bidandi, a contestant in the Jinja city mayoral race says that the BVVK machines irritate voters as they can only detect eight voters per hour yet electoral commission lacks measures to compensate for the lost time.

Musa Wakyo, a voter from Nalufenya A polling station says that he spent about 30 minutes to verify his name from the machine which was time-consuming and inconveniencing to other voters.

Julius Ziwa, another mayoral contestant says that some voters abandoned the polling stations due to delayed verification.

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URN