Dear Listers, In my understanding, the use of electronic means to identify voters and to transmit results is more about the integrity of the election than efficiency of the process. Therefore, when we say we need a fall back system, we should look at a solution that not only safeguards fulfilment of the bill of rights as regards the right to vote. The solution should also have in itself a fallback mechanism that safeguards the integrity of the electoral process as envisaged by the notion of "electronic means". Simply reverting to "manual" appears a little too simplistic. This is because the spirit behind the law's insistence on "electronic" is that of safeguarding the voter identification process by way of biometric technology for instance. As technologists we will easily have consensus that biometric person identification is much more fool proof as regards positive identification than its manual alternatives (therefore not letting in the so called ghosts. Likewise, the spirit behind electronic transmission of presidential vote tallies from the polling station is to safeguard the integrity of the tallying and aggregation process. This ostensibly reduces chances of crooks tampering with signed tally forms (form 34s and form 36s) later on, after the tallies have been announced at the polling stations. Therefore as we consider the matter of "what if the system fails?", it may be that to maintain the spirit and intention of safeguarding the integrity of the vote, a fall back process needs to ensure that the integrity of the vote is not compromised. For instance, why would we insist on a manual back up when both the primary system and the redundant system could be electronic. As it may have been said, in the case of presidential tally transmission, GSM technology could constitute the primary system. Then in areas where GSM connectivity is absent or doubtful, a small deployment of vsat or satellite phones could provide redundancy. It could even be a temporary Wimax arrangement in specific geographical locations. It could also be that a extra government supported investment in GSM for areas of doubt between now and June 2017 is possible. Of course commercial viability is an issue but the bill of rights argument also appears to invoke the essence of the Universal Access Fund. As one may argue, the general election is one of the crucial activities where every citizen can exercises article 1 and article two of the constitution, and it happens once every five years. Arguably there might be no better use of the Universal Access Fund than for facilitating the exercise of article 1 and article 2 of the constitution. As regards voter identification (for EVIDs), there is people with very sweaty fingers. Others may have had accidents in the period preceding the election, causing amputation of the fingers linking them to the biometric register. Therefore such identification failure is plausible. Notwithstanding the possibility of EVID failure, if incidences of such failure exceed 5% or say a certain threshold in a polling station, then something would be amiss and should raise a red flag. It could either be a cultural / environmental challenge in the geography of that polling station, or it could be a case of power issues with the gadgets, or as some would say, it might be "artificial" failure to facilitate "ghost" voters. Regardless of the cause of EVID failure, and in the spirit of safeguarding the integrity of the election, it will help that every EVID failure instance triggers a sequence of well documented steps that can guarantee verifiability of a positive "manual" identification of the voter. The easy one of EVID failures to solve is the instance of power (battery) failure. It should not be impossible to eliminate this through better training of IEBC staff and pre-charging devices. More so, increased rural electrification in the last 4 years might contribute more to alleviation of this challenge. In conclusion, it seems important for those dealing with the Election Law Amendment to separate the two issues (1) The bill of rights and the right of every Kenyan (who has registered as a voter) to vote. (2) Safeguarding the integrity of the vote through ensuring we have up non corruptible, verifiable and auditable electoral systems. More specifically, voter identification and presidential tally transmission appear to be areas of enhancement. That's my 2016 five cent opinion on this electoral law matter. Happy 2017 everyone!.. On Dec 30, 2016 11:59, "Mutemi wa Kiama via kictanet" < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote: Hi Listers, In the debates I have seen raging online and elsewhere about need for a non-IT based backup system, the ICT Ministry and Communications Authority are quoted talking about the 3G coverage in the country or lack thereof. No one is talking about 2G and Satellite phone coverage. Isn't most of the country covered by 2G? Does it mean we suddenly can't transmit data over 2G which we used to before 3G? Interesting that the same Safaricom whose Mpesa can't be hacked by Al Shabaab can have electoral results transmission hacked (According to CS Joe Mucheru)! Are we suddenly analogue because elections are approaching? Could experts here appear before the senate committee on Elections Act next week and save this country from an impending calamity driven by ignorance around ICT? a bewildered Edwin Kiama! Thoughts become things... choose the good ones! *-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**Social Justice Entrepreneur, Human Rights Defender, * *#DevolutionIsRevolution Champion* *The Wanjiku Agenda Kenya Foundation (WAKenya)*Ordinary, fearless Kenyans. https://www.facebook.com/wanjikurevolutionkenya https://twitter.com/WanjikuRevolt https://plus.google.com/u/1/+WanjikuMapinduzi/posts http://www.scribd.com/wmkenya "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. 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