Voters roll goes hi-tech

THE Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has introduced an electronic voter roll to representatives of local political parties.

The system will be implemented at close to 300 polling stations in urban constituencies across the country to speed up the voting process. The ECN hopes that the new system will minimise congestion at voter queues, thereby decreasing voter apathy.Instead of finding names manually, the electronic system takes about 30 seconds to check whether a person has registered to take part in the election process and ensures that those registered only vote once.The registration number is typed in to produce details and the picture of the potential voter.In the event of a power failure, officials will temporarily revert back to the manual system.The ECN hopes that the new system will minimise congestion at voter queues, thereby decreasing voter apathy.Instead of finding names manually, the electronic system takes about 30 seconds to check whether a person has registered to take part in the election process and ensures that those registered only vote once.The registration number is typed in to produce details and the picture of the potential voter.In the event of a power failure, officials will temporarily revert back to the manual system.