Prof. Joash Amupitan, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), stated that the recent mock accreditation for the August 15 Osun governorship election successfully identified and fixed a critical flaw in the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS). This intervention effectively secured the voting rights of residents who might have otherwise been turned away.
While observing the process across 12 polling units, Amupitan explained that the trial run served as a vital stress test for election technology. The primary challenge involved the BVAS devices failing to verify facial images on voter cards issued as far back as 2011. The INEC technical team resolved the matter by recalibrating the system’s similarity score, enabling immediate recognition of the older cards.
Amupitan confirmed that verification now takes between 30 seconds and two minutes per voter. In response to concerns from political parties regarding device availability, the commission has raised the number of allocated machines from 4,427 to 5,130. Additionally, the count of backup devices has doubled to 1,328 to ensure rapid technical support across registration areas. The commission noted that these adjustments will particularly benefit split polling units in regions including Ife East, Irewole, Egbedore, Ede North, and Osogbo.
