The second and final phase of voter registration before the August 9 General Election starts on January 17.
The 21-day drive targets 4.5 million new, mostly young, voters. It is commendable that the IEBC has extended diaspora voter roll to seven more countries.
Voting is an important civic duty that every eligible citizen must exercise. They include young people who have turned 18 and have acquired an ID card.
The last voter registration targeted this group but the turnout was dismal. The IEBC must creatively, think outside the box, and create tech-savvy ways of getting the youths to play a key role in deciding how we are governed.
How about using online registration? This group lives online. They are tech-savvy. Almost all of them own some gadget or another—smartphone or laptop.
Because large swathes find it hard to walk to a registration centre, the IEBC should take registration to their doorstep.
The commission could upload the registration form online and ask applicants to provide a mugshot when sending the filled form back. The fingerprints can then be collected on voting day.
The IEBC must seize the moment. They must change with the times. Deploying KIEMS (Kenya Integrated Election Management System) was a good first step, it should now go further.
Whatever challenges encountered in online registration should form the basis for continuous improvement.
Quote of the Day: “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”
Stephen Hawking
The English physicist (Black Holes & Baby Universes) was born on January 8, 1942
