INEC Administrative Innovations and Election Management in Nigeria: Assessing Voting Points and Biometric Registration in Cross River State

Abstract

Periodically, democratic governance offers citizens opportunity to decide and vote who represent them at all levels of government through elections. It is therefore expected that the Independent Electoral Commission saddled with the responsibility to conduct free, fair and credible elections in the country performs such responsibility with fairness and transparency. However, it is no sarcasm to hold the view that electoral process in Nigeria have never recorded credible, fair and transparent participation. The situation has attracted criticisms by citizens prompting the electoral body to introduced some administrative innovations towards improving the country’s electoral process. Therefore, the main objective of the study is to examine the association between the Independent Electoral Commission’s administrative innovations and elections management in Cross River State, Nigeria. Specific areas of these investigations were to examine if there is association between the introduction of voting points, biometric voter registration and credible election administration in the state. The study adopted the survey research design. A multistage sampling technique was adopted which enable the researcher to adopt stratified, quota, purposive and accidental techniques to arrive at a sample size of one thousand and two hundred (1200). The techniques also enable the researcher to select respondents across the three senatorial districts of the state. The chi-square statistical technique was used to analyzed data generated from the field. From the result of the tested hypotheses, it was discovered that the creation of voting points by INEC is significantly associated with eased voting during elections in the state. Also, it is revealed that the introduction of biometric voter’s registration is significantly associated with the reduction in multiple voter’s registration in the state. Based on the findings of the study, it is therefore recommended that the commission must continue to think along the line of injecting both administration and technological innovations to block areas of leakages that are vulnerable to manipulation. Also, INEC should periodically update her voters register for proper decongestion of over populated polling units by creating voting points before election period. Furthermore, the automation of voter registration process should also have features in the database that can automatically detect and delete double or multiple registration by a registrant.