The Country Director of ActionAid, Andrew Mamedu, has stated that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has a collation system capable of functioning regardless of network connectivity.

Mamedu made the remark on Thursday during an interview on Arise Television’s Prime Time, addressing questions about the ongoing debate over the Senate’s proposed amendment to the Electoral Act.

The Senate recently amended Section 60 of the Electoral Act to allow presiding officers at polling units to electronically transmit election results to INEC’s Results Viewing Portal (IREV).

Reacting to the development, Mamedu said:
“Let’s take a step back. Before the 2023 elections, there was an amendment in 2022 that made voter accreditation compulsory. Previously, it was possible to use the incidence form, but the 2022 amendments mandated full accreditation. This means that if the BVAS is not working, elections are suspended until a functional device is provided.

“These same BVAS machines are capable of accrediting all registered voters at a polling unit. The machine is also used to capture and transmit results to IREV. So, when results are captured and uploaded, whether there is network connectivity or not, the data remains secure and stored in memory until it can be transmitted—much like messages on WhatsApp.”