The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has released phone numbers to enable Nigerians confirm their locality of their polling units via short message service (SMS), ahead of the forthcoming general elections.
The electoral body said eligible registered voters in Nigeria can make the proof by sending an SMS to any of the two devoted lines released by the commission.
The commission’s chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu stated this yesterday in his message to voters ahead of the elections.
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He said that a voter can now check the locality of his PUs by texting the name of their state, last name, and the last six numbers of their voter identification number (VIN) to 09062830860 or 09062830861. “Example FCT MAGAJI 445322. ”
Yakubu said in the INECs trouble to make voting more likely and result management more transparent, the commission has introduced several innovations smoothed by technology.
He said, “INEC expanded voter access to Polling Units by establishing 56,872 new ones, to give Nigerians a more nice experience on election day.
As I’ve said constantly, the right to vote can only be exercised where there’s a place to vote. Arising from the recent mock accreditation exercise nationwide using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), some voters turned up at the wrong Polling Units.
This occurred both in cases where voters have been migrated to other polling units by the commission and even where they willingly chose new voting locations during the last Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).
Yakubu said the commission believes that there could voters in the same situation.
This challenge must be addressed so that it doesn’t occur on election day, ”Yakubu said.
The INEC boss said that in order to ease the process, the commission was sending bulk phone text messages (SMS) to citizens voting in new Polling Units.
He added that likewise, the register of similar voters for each State had been transferred to the Resident Electoral Commissioners (REC) for publicity, particularly through messages in local languages.
He said, “likewise, the commission is offering two unique ways by which all voters can locate and confirm their Polling Units before election day.
This can be done by sending a normal text message or by simply visiting our website.
The detailed procedure is attached to this message and also uploaded to our website and social media platforms.
Yakubu said that registered voters could also send inquiries to INEC’s various public outreach platforms shown in the attached procedure.
He encouraged all eligible voters to confirm their voting locations ahead of election day.
