Card Reader Trial gets Pass Mark Delta

 

Potential voters in the forthcoming general elections, who turned up for the card reader trial at the Umuezei Ward in Oshimili South Local Government Area of Delta State on Saturday expressed their delight at the efficiency of the device deployed in the polling units.
The Independent National Electoral Commission and voters alike reported to the 14 voting units promptly at the 8am scheduled beginning of the exercise and went into business soon afterwards.
The units were located at Asagba Primary School and Niger Mixed Secondary School, all in Asaba. Six of the units were located at Niger Mixed Secondary School while the rest were at Asagba Primary School.
The ward has a total voting population of 13,905. But only 10,865 voters had collected their PVC, according to the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Anidi Ikowak.
Most of the verification went on smoothly, taking just a few seconds for the polling officials to interview and test each voter with the card reader.
But there were a few cases where the process caused anxious moments as it took several trials before the card reader could verify the few voters.
One of such incidents occurred at Polling Unit 12, where an elderly woman, Mrs. Franca Oba, waited for almost 30 minutes before her fingerprint was accepted by the card reader.
Unlike other voters that just came and had their fingerprints verified within a few seconds, Oba had to avail all her 10 fingers for verification for seven times before the reader verified hers.
In her reaction, Oba said, “The card reader is good. But if every voter has to go through this, then it means people will not leave the polling unit before midnight.”
There was an overwhelming presence of policemen, led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations), Mr. Zaki Ahmed.
The INEC team to the area was led by a National Commissioner, Dr. Ishmael Igbani.
The team also had the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Edo State, Mr. Mike Igini, and the Delta REC, Mr. Anidi Ikowak.