INEC Reacts As BVAS Challenges Hinder Elderly Voters In Ondo West

Miss Angela Oshogwe, the Presiding Officer at Polling Unit 19, Ward 11, Olamojuba in Ondo West Local Government Area, has reported issues with the Bio-modal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machine failing to capture the faces of elderly voters during the ongoing Ondo State governorship election.

Oshogwe disclosed that she had escalated the issue to the relevant authorities, who informed her that the problem was not unique to her polling unit.

The situation left several elderly voters stranded at the polling unit, unable to exercise their franchise due to the technical glitch.

Reacting to the development, Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Chief Press Secretary to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, acknowledged the issue.

He assured the public that the commission was aware of the malfunction but noted that it affected only “very limited” polling units.

“We are aware that in very limited cases, a few elderly voters couldn’t be accredited by the BVAS at first attempt. But, in subsequent attempts, the problem was resolved.

“A Presiding Officer in one polling unit (PU) out of 3,933 PUs in Ondo State is not in the position to say how widespread a technical problem is.

“From the reports at our disposal, so far, the BVAS is performing satisfactorily. It is not unusual for technical issues to occur in a major off-season election like the one we are conducting today. We anticipated it and made adequate arrangements to respond to any type of challenge,” Oyekanmi said.

A septuagenarian, Mrs Agnes Olapade, who was affected by the technical problem, said that she was disappointed that she could not vote due to malfunction of the BVAS.

Olapade said she had been at the polling unit, with other affected elderly voters, since 8:00 a.m. without being able to vote.
According to her. she voted in the previous elections without any difficulty.

Similarly, Mrs Rukayat Olawoye, 87 years old, said that she came out because of the voting but was disappointed at the difficulty occasioned by the BVAS.

Another septuagenarian, Mrs Ronke Fayankimi, stated that she and other affected voters would continue to wait, to see if the BVAS would capture their faces.