Voter ID Cards Need Urgent Remedial Steps!

By Ranger

It is no longer news that His Excellency President Dr. Julius Maada Bio and First Lady Fatima Maada Bio have collected their voter identification cards at the Hockey Pitch, Wilberforce Barracks in Freetown where the President urged all registered voters to collect their own Voter IDs.

However, not quite twenty four hours later when hundreds of citizens across Sierra Leone collected their own Voter ID cards, there was hue and cry about the authenticity and poor quality of the cards.

It is not unreasonable to suggest that ordinary citizens are of the view that the ECSL was very meticulous in ensuring that printing of the Presidential, including the First Lady and other high profiled citizens’ Voter ID cards was done to internationally-accepted standards.

But that when it came to the printing of Voter ID cards for the rest of the “ordinary citizens,” this was done in a warped and wishy-washy manner. Some citizens even suspect that the money meant for the procurement of the cards could have been sliced; the reason why the printing was poor. But of course, this would need to be investigated.

So as a result of the poor quality of the voter IDs, citizens are raising serious concerns, saying the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL) produced Voter ID cards that are substandard and mediocre.

Many cards contain errors, such as incorrect gender and blurred photos, making identifying the voter difficult or impossible. This would have been comical if it were not for the exorbitant cost of printing them.

Additionally, the security features on these cards are questionable at best. A high-quality voter identification card should contain holograms or other visible and invisible marks that cannot be easily replicated or forged.

Moreover, the QR code on the card should facilitate quick and accurate identification of the voter and not just repeat the registration number.

The poor management and printing of the voter identification cards raise serious concerns for the upcoming elections and could lead to severe consequences. These mistakes in the voter identification process can create confusion and frustration among voters and could potentially result in voter suppression if eligible voters are wrongly deemed ineligible to vote.

Furthermore, this could also lead to an increase in disputes and challenges during and after the election process, eroding the credibility of the elections.

It is against this background, we would wish to advise the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone to take immediate remedial steps to address these issues and ensure that voter registration cards are accurate and of high-quality.