Biometric Election Technology, Voter Experience and Turnout in Ghana

Abstract

This study investigates the experiences of voters with election technologies such as the biometric system for voter registration and verification (BVRV), as well as whether such technologies affected both turnout and trust in Ghana's 2012 and 2016 elections. The paper also explores whether the introduction of BVRVs increased or decreased levels of voter trust in the Electoral Commission (EC) and election outcomes. Using both primary and secondary data, the study found that the introduction of BVRV in election management in Ghana influenced the turnout for both the educated and the uneducated. While most of the former were eager to experience this novel approach, the same could not be said of the latter, less educated group. The study noted that state institutions do not take population diversity into consideration when introducing technological interventions. They take it for granted that citizens have the same capability, resulting in the marginalisation and neglect of a large section of the populace; this lack of trust in turn has a negative effect on voter turnout. The study recommends that such inequities in society should be taken into consideration when implementing interventions like BVRV in election management, specifically in Ghana but also in other African countries with similar socioeconomic and political conditions.