CHAPTER THREE: ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGIES IN VOTER REGISTRATION ------40 Contracts therefore should be open to scrutiny by observation groups and political contestants. COUNTRY NOTE: Nigerian Elections 2007 - Use of Electronic Technologies in Voter Registration While the Nigerian electoral act prohibits electronic voting, the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) decided to employ direct data capture (DDC) devices to create an entirely new voter registry for the series of elections held in 2007. DDC technology would have enabled officials to electronically enter and store information about each voter who appeared at registration locations and then transfer the information to a computer database. Election authorities would then have been able to conduct various checks to ensure the integrity of voter lists, for example, to identify duplicate records and thus prevent double voting. However, the INEC's very tight and optimistic timetable proved not to be realistic. INEC expected to procure from three companies a total of 33,000 DDC machines by early November in order to complete registration of an estimated 70 million eligible voters by the December 14 legal deadline. At the beginning of registration only about 1,000 DDC machines were operational, and due to a number of factors, including delayed payments to the vendors, the 33,000 machines were not in place until mid-January. Only about 5,000 of the machines were voter registration devices, while the majority of machines used were laptop computers with digital cameras. In addition, registration staff apparently did not receive sufficient training on the use of the DDC devices. The batteries provided had a short life span and recharging facilities were limited in number, often rendering the DDC devices unusable. The printers frequently jammed, and there were shortages of ink. A manual registration process had to be used as back-up. The result was significant delays beyond legal deadlines, a problematic correction period, which led to likely disenfranchisement, and opportunities for illegal voting due to inaccurate voters lists. While aggregate registration figures were made public, there were questions about the large volume of registrations in the final phase of the exercise. Public confidence was further compromised because significant access to the voters list was not provided to political parties or domestic and international observers prior to election day. Eighteen political parties joined in a court challenge concerning noncompliance with legal provisions on voter registration. Sources: "NDI Final Report on Nigeria's 2007 Elections,"; "Nigeria Final Report: Gubernatorial and State House Elections 14 April 2007 and Presidential and National Assembly Elections 21 April 2007," European Union Election Observation Mission. Obligations of the producers and/or servicers after delivery of the products should be clearly defined by contracts that carry an appropriate level of guarantee that the producer will indeed effectively service the equipment. The contracts should address obligations to effectively remedy breakdowns of equipment due to design flaws, as well as due to operation in high temperatures, high humidity, exposure to sand particles, failures of batteries needed to operate equipment as specified; and the ability to rapidly provide replacement parts and otherwise ensure equipment performance. The schedule for delivery of equipment needed to meet the election