- At Kaptimbor polling station in the same subcounty, presiding officer Justine Kiptoo said he encountered three such cases, and managed to assist all of them.
- The situation was experienced across the 920 polling stations spread in the six constituencies.
Hundreds of elderly people in Baringo on Tuesday went through challenges voting as the digital biometric machines failed to detect their fault fingerprints.
The stressful situation was experienced across the 920 polling stations spread in the six constituencies: Baringo North, Tiaty, Baringo Central, Mogotio, Eldama Ravine and Baringo South.
By around 3pm, Agnes Kandie, 80, was among the six elderly women spotted stranded at Kapsoo polling station in Baringo Central constituency.
“I have been kept seated here since morning as the Independent Electoral Boundary Commission officials have tried to assist me in vain” Kandie said.
She said she had left her young grandchild to look after her hungry livestock just to come and exercise her democratic right to vote.
Another elderly, Grace Chelelgo, 70, said her grandchildren have not eaten since morning. “Up to now, I am yet to know whether I will still vote or not.”
Real Chelagat, 67, and Kabon Cherop, 75, also did not even succeed after washing their hands several times with running tap water.
“I had scheduled to vote urgently so I could rush home to look for firewood before the rains start, but up to now since morning I am still held up here,” Chelagat said.
The presiding officer Mercy Kiptoon said the biometric voter machine actually failed to read the elderly persons' fingerprints.
“We tried since midmorning to assist six elderly, but only two succeeded. We are still trying all means to help the rest to at least vote,” Kiptoon said.
She said they tried hand washing, sanitiser and even applied vaseline, but that didn't work.
The polling station has a total of 676 voters, but only 330 had turned up around 3pm, while the queue was still long.
At Kaptimbor polling station in the same subcounty, presiding officer Justine Kiptoo said he encountered three such cases, and managed to assist all of them.
“Although the machines were slow, none of the voters were left out,” he said, adding that the turnout was 69 per cent as at 4pm.
The Supreme Court on Monday suspended the mandatory use of manual register during Tuesday's polls following a petition by United Democratic Alliance challenging its credibility.
In July, Ruto said that at least one million voters were missing from the IEBC register, a claim that was later confirmed by KPMG after it conducted an audit on the register, prompting the electoral agency to carry out a cleanup.