IEC Official Says Stolen Blank Voter Cards Pose No Risk to Electoral Integrity

By Makutu Manneh

An official of the Independent Electoral Commission sought to reassure the public on Tuesday that blank voter cards stolen from a registration center in Sanyang cannot be used to compromise the country’s electoral system, emphasizing that the materials are inoperable without the commission’s proprietary software and database access.

Demba Jallow, the commission’s voter education and training officer, said during an appearance on Kerr Fatou’s Civic Education Show that the stolen cards, which had not yet been encoded with voter information, were effectively useless outside the commission’s controlled system.

“The way our software is designed cannot be compromised in such a way that you can register someone’s details,” Mr. Jallow said, noting that voter data can only be entered through the commission’s secured servers.

He added that the materials taken were “just blank cards” intended for use during registration and would not provide any benefit to those who removed them.

Mr. Jallow said that a suspect had been taken into custody and some of the stolen items had been recovered. Despite the incident, voter registration in Sanyang continued uninterrupted, he said, as the commission had sufficient stock to replace the missing materials.

He also emphasized that the commission had strengthened safeguards within its system, limiting the ability of registration teams to alter or manipulate voter data. “The system is secure,” he said. “There is nothing you can do.”

“IEC is improving a lot; the system is secured. There is nothing you can do; even registration teams have certain changes they cannot make,” he assured.

The theft was first reported on May 11, when the Gambia Police Force said it had opened an investigation. In a statement, the police said preliminary findings suggested that “a suspected lunatic” had unlawfully entered the registration office and taken consumable materials, including blank voter registration cards.

“Preliminary investigations indicate that a suspected lunatic unlawfully entered the registration office and stole consumable registration materials, including blank voter registration cards,” the statement reads.

The incident has drawn attention in Sanyang, a coastal community, as authorities work to contain any potential disruption to the ongoing voter registration exercise.