consolidation in the event of kit failures or thefts. There is need for all field equipment to be consolidated with the central servers and storage units to act as back-ups. Deduplication ZESN reiterates its belief that one of BVR’s major strengths is the ability to deter duplicate voter registration, therefore; there must be clear measures to show how the captured biometric data will be used to identify suspected duplicate voter registrations and whether this will be done by human operators or by computer software. In the case of voter registration offences there is need for clarity on what penalties will be levied against the offenders. Claims and Objections In addition to the public verification of the provisional voter lists, ZESN urges the Commission to ensure that there are adequate mechanisms in place for citizens to check their names on the voters’ rolls both physically and virtually. ZESN believes that such an arrangement would speed up the rectification of any errors in registration details in the system. ZEC should consider integration of SMS systems into BVR to enable citizens to verify their registration status via SMS. Election technologies in use in other countries include the use of SMS and social media to communicate with the electorate. In Pakistan, for instance the EMB used SMS to have voters check whether their voter registration details and statuses were accurate. Out of the 85 million registered voters 55 million successfully utilized the SMS platform at nominal financial cost to both the Commission and the voters. Conclusion Given that there have been contestations over voter registration and the consequential voters’ rolls in previous elections the adoption of BVR technologies offer an opportunity to address issues of transparency and inclusivity in key electoral processes. A demonstration of political will is essential for the successful implementation of BVR. For comments and views about this article, please contact ZESN on info@zesn.net or zesn2011@zesn.net. Follow us on Twitter:@ZESN1 and like us on Facebook Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN)