ESI to update biometric voter registry for the Gambia

Voter registration specialist and BVR pioneer Electoral Services International, ESI has signed an agreement with the Electoral Commission of the Gambia that will see ESI work closely with its Gambian partners to update their voters' roll starting the first week of the New Year.ESI has announced that it will prepare and image hardware during December, 2015, ship the materials to Banjul by the beginning of 2016 and commence with set-up, training and shortly thereafter begin voter registration by mid-January. The completion of activities is expected to be finished by early summer 2016. The IEC will then have a fully updated functional BVR system for years to come.The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and ESI are expected to update the registrar with some 300,000 new voters. The first Gambia ESI BVR project in March-June 2011 registered just under one million voters. The all-important second phase or follow up to a highly successful first project is estimated to take 6 months to complete and when finished the country will again be ready to go to the polls with a spotless error free Voters' Roll.ESI will upgrade 70 new Mobile Voter Registration kits with new hardware and add software updates and new technology to an already highly reliable system. One of Africa's most trusted systems in the BVR sector will use portable biometric registration kits deployed throughout the Gambia and will carry out a countrywide exercise.ESI will train and work in close cooperation with the IEC to assure highly qualified commission staff will be on hand to assure the sustainability of their BVR system. ESI will place staff in the field for the duration of the project including a software programmer to assure flawless operation of the system.ESI-IEC will use an existing front-end interface solution with the existing and upgraded biometric registration kits along with its user-friendly BVR software. The registration stations will use ESI's tough and advanced trademark kits to register voters in some very demanding locations with limited infrastructure and difficult access.ESI provides not only a front end full biometric registration system but provides a back end system that is one of the industry's most trusted programs and has so far outperformed most other supplier's Biometric ID systems.In 2011 ESI collected voters' multiple biometrics as well as relevant individual information to constitute the country's first secure national voters' roll without any errors, doubles or duplication.The ESI system also provides features to permit the IEC to print plastic PVC Voter ID cards immediately on the spot after the voter has completed the registration process. The printing of on-the-spot plastic ID cards was an extremely difficult component as the printers are seriously and adversely affected by dust and dirt. However, this was overcome with a great deal of attention and care to a sensitive technology throughout the process and will be an important component in the second phase.Having seen BVR failure first hand in neighboring countries and throughout Africa the IEC was not about to buy one system only to have it replaced due to failure at a later date. Unfortunately, BVR failure in Africa has been more the rule than the exception. The IEC opted to entrust their initial BVR project to ESI thus assuring them they would have a reliable easy to use system for years well into their electoral future. They seemed to have made the right choice.

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