Election 2020: Aged woman verified facially after fingerprints fail

An old lady at the Catholic Social Centre polling station in Zuarugu of the Bolgatanga East constituency in the Upper East Region whose fingers could not be identified by the Biometric Verification Device (BVD) when she turned up to vote was eventually verified using the facial recognition technology.

Our volunteer reporter, Gayheart Abraham reports voting has commenced peacefully and is progressing steadily at the polling station where the incumbent Member of Parliament Dr. Dominic Ayine Akuritinga is expected to cast his vote.

He observed that an old lady whose fingers could not be identified by the verification device was verified to vote when the facial technology was used.

In the run-up to the polls, the Electoral Commission procured new Biometric Verification Devices (BVD) which it argued had enhanced features including facial verification.

Despite the resistance by the opposition and some civil society groups, the EC went ahead and procured the machines which are currently being used for the ongoing voting.

Meanwhile, reports across the country suggest voting is ongoing smoothing in most of the polling stations.