Voters will interact with IEBC KIEMS kit on Tuesday when they will be voting.
There is KIEMS – a biometric voter registration system that uses facial, fingerprint and citizen data of voters for electronic use by the Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
This information will be used to verify the voter’s identity on Tuesday to prevent impersonation.
The KIEMS suite also includes a system that allows supervisors to send results to control centers via specially designed mobile devices.
Mobile devices will facilitate simultaneous transmission of results to constituencies, districts and national IEBC headquarters.
Ahead of Tuesday’s practice, here are a few things you need to know about the KIEMS IEBC set:
According to the election agency, 55,100 KIEMS kits were distributed nationally.
The kit includes a high-capacity internal battery and a portable power bank that can be used throughout the sessions.
“The KIEMS kit has an internal battery and two external batteries (power banks) that are fully charged before installation. The three batteries have enough power to last longer than the voting and delivery time,” IEBC said.
Although the KIEMS voter identification function is offline and does not require a network connection, IEBC said the system’s communications are encrypted and secured through 3G and 4G networks.
There are two cards in each set and the IEBC SIM card takes priority at the polling station.
“For electronic results transmission, the KIEMS kit is equipped with a primary and secondary GSM sim card, which will ensure network continuity in the event of a failure,” IEBC said.
For the security of stored data, IEBC says SD cards being used are also encrypted. Books also use digital signatures, in the form of fingerprints, to authenticate the identity of the voter.
In addition, the kit uses a QR scanner to identify and validate the election form provided with a predefined unique QR code.
For backup purposes, each ward will have six additional KIEMS sets as well as portable satellite modems.
This transmission system has recently been at the center of controversy, with several lobby groups protesting the IEBC’s decision to use the KIMS kit over manual register.
They argue that the technology is vulnerable to attack and that if the technology fails, voters could be disenfranchised.
Following the court ruling, IEBC agreed to distribute the printed registration and KIEMS kits, but still assured Kenyans of the security of the Results Transmission system.