Special Voting: Biometric Devices Worked Effectively - John Boadu Applauds EC For New Devices

The General Secretary for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), John Boadu says the Electoral Commission is justified for going for new biometric devices for 2020 general elections in spite of attacks from doomsayers.

According to him, his observations in the Special Voting saw very effective biometric devices as he did not witness any issue of delay in verifying people and no difficulty in verifying the voters who voted in the just ended Special Voting on December 1, 2020.

“The biometric devices are working effectively. I didn’t receive any report at the places I visited during the Special Voting that the biometric devices failed to verify voters . . . at the Effutu Constituency, one voter could not be verified through the thumb but the facial verification worked . . . the device is very effective this time around,” he observed.

Speaking on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, John Boadu disclosed that the new biometric devices of the Electoral Commission (EC) have three phases of verification, making it impossible to fail in verifying voters.

“There is manual verification in addition to the thumb and facial verification features imbedded in the biometric devices. The manual verification feature can help verify a voter if the person is unable to verify through the thumb and face . . . " he mentioned.

“I think that the Electoral Commission is justified in deciding in the midst of all the doomsayers to go for new biometric devices for the 2020 general elections . . . the EC deserves commendation,” he asserted.

He reiterated that there has not been any report from the Special Voting that someone could not go through any of the phases of the verification successfully; thus, any such case would have meant that the person was a ghost.

He was hopeful that all the over 38,000 polling centres across the country will be successful with the biometric devices, taking a clue from the effective usage of the machines in all the 350 polling centres during the Special Voting.