2020 election data safe, will be preserved – EC

The Electoral Commission (EC) has said the data on the 2020 presidential and parliamentary election is safe and will be well preserved.

The elections management body said in a statement on Friday, December 18 that it has noted allegations by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) purporting that the Commission’s directive to deactivate the Biometric Verification Devices (BVDs) constitutes an illegality as deactivation would destroy evidence related to verified voters for the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections.

The Electoral Commission “categorically states that these assertions are false.”

“The Commission has carefully preserved and safeguarded all electronic and physical records and data relating to the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections.

“It is also instructive to note that the BVDs were only ACTIVATED prior to their use for the Elections as a safeguard to ensure that no one was verified before the start of Polls. Similarly, at the close of Polls, the BVDs were DEACTIVATED to prevent any potential mischief of persons being verified after the close of Polls.

“The process of deactivation is therefore meant to preserve the sanctity of the verification data on the BVD and does not delete it. As a matter of fact, several copies of the verification data are kept on the BVD.”