violated”  after  the  tenders  had  been  submitted.  50  Laxton  have  appealed  to  the  Administrative   Court  for  intervention:  by  the  end  of  January  2018,  ZEC  has  maintained  its  position  that  IPSIDY   should  provide  the  de-­‐duplication  hardware  and  software,  “in  the  urgent  public  interest”,  the  court   appeal  notwithstanding….51       Other  aspects  of  how  the  data  is  being  consolidated  were  initially  flagged  by  Zimbabwe  Election   Support  Network  (ZESN).  Registration  information  is  apparently  being  transported  on  ‘safe’  USBs   from  registration  points  to  centralized  data  collection  points.  What  this  exactly  entailed  and  how   the  USBs  are  safe  from  being  stolen,  duplicated  or  interfered  with  was  not  transparent  to  ZESN.52   However,  in  their  update  no.  14  on  21  December,  ZESN  noted  that  they  had  been  allowed  to   witness  data  discs  being  placed  in  tamper-­‐proof  envelopes  in  registration  centres  and  that  by  and   large  they  were  happy  with  the  process.  However,  these  ZESN  updates  have  limited  reach,  and   general  doubts  about  the  security  of  BVR  data  may  well  remain  more  generally.  Long  before  BVR   began,  there  was  widespread  concern  that  ZANU  PF  had  been  systematically  biometrically   registering  their  supporters  since  2016  and  that  they  were  going  to  surreptitiously  slide  their   database  into  the  ZEC  database  to  ensure  that  all  their  voters  were  registered,  regardless  of   whether  they  registered  via  the  ZEC  BVR  process  or  not.53  Again,  there  is  no  evidence  for  this,  but   the  lack  of  general  knowledge  into  how  ZEC  is  amalgamating  all  its  data  that  is  being  variously   collected  from  its  centres  around  the  country  has  fueled  these  concerns.54       Roll-­‐out  of  BVR  nationwide       In  September  2017,  the  BVR  began  with  a  preliminary  spate  of  registrations  with  a  limited  number   of  machines,  as  a  training  and  problem-­‐shooting  exercise.  The  consensus  was  that  ZEC  staff  were   well  trained  and  polite,  and  were  not  in  any  way  obstructive  during  this  process.  However,  long   queues  and  the  slow  rate  at  which  registration  occurred  generated  some  complaints,  in  particular   in  the  cities,  in  these  initial  weeks,  with  very  limited  numbers  of  BVR  kits  in  action.  There  were  early   concerns  that  in  opposition  strongholds,  such  as  Bulawayo  and  Harare,  there  could  be  manipulation   of  the  process  simply  by  providing  not  enough  machines  here,  so  that  frustrated  would-­‐be  voters   dropped  out  of  queues,  while  by  flooding  ZANU  PF  strongholds  with  registration  machines,  the  final   roll  could  be  slanted  in  favour  of  these  constituencies.55       In  early  October,  the  main  ‘BVR  blitz’  began,  with  a  dramatic  increase  in  the  number  of  kits  and   staff  available  for  the  process.  2,697  BVR  kits  were  distributed  nationally,  through  all  ten  provinces,   with  252  kits  in  Harare  and  112  kits  in  Bulawayo,  to  be  rotated  through  approximately  700  and  400   centres  respectively,  over  an  initial  proposed  72  day  blitz  period.56  It  was  stated  by  ZEC  that  they   would  conduct  at  least  a  week  of  voter  education  ahead  of  registering  voters  in  any  area.  Civic                                                                                                               50  http://www.chronicle.co.zw/zimbabwe-­‐electoral-­‐commission-­‐in-­‐bvr-­‐tender-­‐storm/.      https://myhararetimes.com/us-­‐firm-­‐gets-­‐zimbabwe-­‐bvr-­‐tender/.     52  ZESN  BVR  Update  Number  13.     53  Interviews,  Harare,  September  2017.  After  decades  of  experience  of  electoral  processes  that  have  been   abused,  civics  are  prone  to  expecting  and  imagining  the  worst.  There  is  no  evidence  that  this  will  happen,   but  the  fears  could  be  dampened  if  there  was  more  transparency  around  how  data  is  being  consolidated.     54  TIZ,  op  cit.     55  Interviews  with  civics  during  late  2017.     56  Share,  Felex:  “Zec  receives  2600  kits,  gears  up  for  voter  registration  blitz”,  The  Chronicle,  2  October  2017.   Also  ZEC’s  own  statistics:  Final  statistics  for  Phase  2,  accessible  through  www.zec.gov.zw.     51   16