An Australian company has developed a solar powered voter verification system to help ensure fairer elections in Africa.
Electoral fraud is an issue in all nations, but particularly so on the African continent. Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe won a seventh term in office last year amid accusations of large-scale electoral fraud.
The Genie ID system can generate photo ID and send images signatures and fingerprints back to a central location via 3G wireless networks for cross-referencing. This can help prevent voters from voting multiple times or attempting to assume the identity of a deceased person still on the electoral role.
Part of the system is Rollcall, which automatically initiates an adjudication process if suspected fraud is detected. The suspect registration is checked by two adjudicators, who then review the data and decide if a fraud has occurred or not.
The entire verification process takes 2 minutes from start to finish.
“The Genie ID Verification unit makes it easy for electoral officials at voting centres on Election Day to confidently verify that the person who is seeking to vote is actually the same person that appears on the Voter Registration ID card that is being presented before them,” says the company.
The units can be powered directly from mains, or a small solar panel – an important feature given electricity supply can be sporadic or non-existent in many parts of Africa. Constructed from heavy-duty materials, the Genie ID can withstand harsh environmental conditions.
The parent company of Genie ID, The Jazzmatrix Corporation, is based in Iluka, Western Australia.
According to Dynamic Business, the company is in negotiations with the electoral commissions in Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda and Tanzania for Genie IDs; with Tanzania considering around 15,000 units and Mozambique is contemplating an order of 2,700 units.
