How INEC Officer misapplied BVAS to record zero accreditation as voting progressed in Awka Ward 7

An official of the Independent national Electoral Commission (INEC) during the Saturday governorship election in Anambra State did not know how to set the BVAS machine for voters’ accreditation as voting was in progress in a polling unit in the state. A Presiding Officer was said to have wrongly set the BVAS for accreditation of voters at Polling Unit (PU) 008 Awka Ward 7, Umuokpu Awka, Awka South Local Government Area, and most people had voted with the improper BVAS which was reading 0 before the arrival of the supervisor who detected the error. She immediately ordered the cancellation of all votes cast already and a complete start all over again.

The INEC Supervisor for the Area Collation Centre was said to have arrived the polling unit and discovered that the BVAS recorded 0 voter accreditation but some persons had cast their votes. On screeching, BVAS, she found that the Presiding officer made mistake in setting the BVAS machine, making it not capturing or documenting accredited voters who have, in ignorance, proceeded to vote.

The discovery culminated in the cancellation of votes already cast, as the Supervisor stated that the number of votes cast must align with the number of accredited voters recorded by the BVAS.

Because of the cancellation and restarting of the voting process, the Supervisor endorsed the continuation of voting into additional one hour, beyond the scheduled time. She insisted that the only option was to restart accreditation and voting again.