28 Jul 2016

The Independent Electoral Commission secretary, Mr Gabriel Seeletso on July 28 shared with stakeholders firsthand experience with the electronic voting machine.

Speaking at the electronic voting machine workshop for media and selected interest groups, Mr Seeletso explained that in 1998, the law brought some reforms in the way of the ballot voting papers.

Mr Seeletso noted that there had been conflicting messages about putting a cross on the ballot paper, hence plans to introduce electronic voting machine was seen to be an appropriate venture.
He said there were delays in announcing the results as counting of ballots was seen to be a long and tedious process as it also involved cross checking and verification.

Mr Seeletso noted that the time that was taken to announce the results was too long; hence the call for a quicker mode of voting managed to get the sympathy of those in power.

He said the electronic voting machine was user friendly and that there were no updates from time to time. He also said the voting machine  was cost effective and not prone to hacking and any form of interference.

The machine, he said, does not experience electricity problems and has the option to use any form of power at the same time having no network problems or any software updates.

“As a country, we are desirous to introduce an electoral solution where voters can cast their votes at their own comfort without any delay,” he said.

He noted that people could also vote from their hotel rooms and bedrooms as the infrastructure supports votes to move from one point to another without delay.

The Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration and that of Local Government and Rural Development, whose portfolio responsibilities include election for parliamentary and local government candidates, wanted to appreciate how good the voting machine was.

Mr Seeletso said if at all the machine answers the concerns of Batswana in relation to long queues, delayed release of results and minimised the anxiety associated with this two pains, the machine would be put in use.

Mr Seeletso said Members of Parliament were introduced to the voting machine so that they could feel and appreciate the new invention to be introduced to all stakeholders to look at it, bearing in mind that everything starts small and grows with time.

“The electronic voting machine may be envisaged to be ultimately in use in Botswana if Parliament approves the proposed bill to introduce the machine should have some qualities that will make them relevant to Botswana’s situation,” he said.

He said as an emerging economy, the country could not afford to have a device that could be used for once and become a white elephant. Ends