As the debate rages on and as we await the outcome of the debate in the House. Let’s first understand the electoral process on election day and then get into what the proposed amendments are seeking to change.
Well, first of all, it’s that the election day is divided into 2 main processes, that is voting, which takes place in a pretty orderly fashion. Polling stations open at 6am and then close at 5pm.
The second and most important process, and often controversial is the results management process. This includes vote counting, collation, tallying and results transmission before the ultimate declaration of the results.
An important matter to settle before we move any further, is this: which parts of our election process are manual and which are electronic?
Well, our actual voting process is manual. We fill out ballot papers by hand and put them into the ballot box. However, the process of voter identification is electronic using the evid kits, or the electronic voter identification kits. The results transmission itself is what is electronic, through the KIEMS kits.
Now let’s get into the second stage of the election process that we mentioned earlier, and that is the results management process.
So this process begins after 5pm. Once the polling station closes at 5pm, it becomes a counting station. The presiding officer is in charge here. He/she counts and tallies the votes together with the deputy presiding officer and the polling clerks.
They always start with the presidential votes. They then enter their results in form 34A, a statutory document that declares the presidential election. Following verification, the party agents present at the polling station, then append their signatures to this form together with the presiding officer.
The office then takes a photo of this form using the KIEMS kit, then electronically transmit this simultaneously to both the national tallying centre in Nairobi and the constituency tallying centre. The physical document is then taken to the constituency tallying centre, headed by the constituency returning officer
This officer receives all the forms 34as from all the polling stations within the constituency and then fills the details of each candidate as per from 34a to form 34b.
That individual collates and tallies the votes. Now with the total votes from the constituency, this is then once again approved by the party agents and signatures appended. An image is taken of form 34b using the KIEMS kit and once again, electronically transmitted to the national tallying centre.
The constituency returning officer then takes all the form 34as from the various polling stations, together with the form 34b that he/she has filled and then begins the physical, long or short journey to the national tallying centre and delivers them to the chair of the IEBC, who is the national returning officer of the presidential vote.
Meanwhile, by this time, the chair of the IEBC has already been receiving the images of the form 34as from all the polling stations around the country. In 2017, these were slightly over 40,000. This year, they are likely to be more considering the increase in numbers of voters, so perhaps 50,000 or thereabouts.
Now in 2017, he was receiving 2 types of results, one was the images of the forms and also receiving numerical data as well.
In 2017, the national tallying centre was receiving results in 2 ways, 1 was the images via the KIEMS kit and two, the numerical data. They were then using the numerical data to do the calculations of the vote tally so far. This is what was being displayed on the large screen at the Bomas of Kenya.
The numbers on that screen were therefore not verified numbers, but provisional and could be subject to change upon the verification exercise that is done by the chairperson of the IEBC. And this was a question that came up even during the Supreme Court petition of 2017.
And that is what has informed this particular amendment.
The IEBC, which has proposed these amendments, insists that it is to align with this ruling by Justice Chacha Mwita in 2018.
So, what’s next? Well, this lies in the hands of the MPs, who will ultimately vote on whether to pass this amendment into law.
Should it pass, meaning that we would have no big screen at the Bomas of Kenya showing Kenyans the results as they stream in, then the IEBC has the big task of assuring Kenyans, who have been used to this public display, that the counting and tallying of votes is being done in a fair and transparent manner.
But parliament can work to secure the keen interest Kenyans have in following the results as they come in. Results that are not just provisional, but verified as well. BY CITIZEN DIGITAL