Kaduna state has set a new record in electioneering in Nigeria as it pioneered the use of electronic voting machine in the conduct of its local government elections today.

The elections were to elect chairmen and councillors for the 23 local government councils in the state. The machines used have a terminal weight of 5-10kg and have a 16 hours battery life span.

Those who voted said that the process was easier and faster. Verification of voters started at about 9:00am at some of the two polling units but was delayed in several others.

Election result sheets were printed from the machines to show that there were no pre-recorded votes in the machine before the commencement of voting.

Accredited voters did not see ballot papers. Instead, they faced an electronic voting machine displaying the logos of the political parties participating in the election.
By pressing the logo of a preferred political party, the voter registers a choice that is recorded and acknowledged by the machine.

The use of the electronic voting machine was generally welcomed by all but the late arrival of materials was quite noticeable in many voting centers. Also, other electoral maladies during voting like the use of money to influence voters still dotted the voting process.

Overall, it was commendation galore for Kaduna state and especially the governor for the introduction of the electronic voting machine. Only very few countries in the world use the electronic voting machine for their election process.

With the success of the Kaduna experiment with electronic voting machine, it is expected that some other states may soon join the league and in due course it is expected that the use of electronic voting machine may be adopted nationally by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).