Biometric voter identification succeeded in more than 97 percent of cases at Bosnia and Herzegovina’s October 4 general elections, the first in the country to use biometric checks, ballot scanning and rapid electronic results transmission nationwide, according to the Agency for Identification Documents, Registers and Data Exchange (IDDEEA).
The figure comes from the first post-election indicators. Around 1.4 million people voted, and IDDEEA says the systems and infrastructure it provided for the vote recorded no outages during election day.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) introduced the new technologies, using fingerprint scanners and ballot scanners supplied under a contract with a Smartmatic-led group at roughly 5,000 polling stations. IDDEEA, which keeps the state’s identity document records, supplied the infrastructure used to verify voters’ identities, including access to official records and identity document data, web services, information systems and telecommunications. Its technical teams monitored the systems throughout the day and were in direct contact with the relevant institutions.
The difficulties that did arise mainly involved damaged identity documents, some identity cards issued during September, and problems reading fingerprints from elderly voters and people with damaged fingerprints. IDDEEA says none of these led to downtime or unavailability of its central systems.
IDDEEA also kept document services running so citizens could collect the documents they needed to vote. Over October 3 and 4, it handled 770 identity-document transactions, 312 on the Saturday and 458 on election day: 666 documents handed over to citizens and 104 new applications. It also received 60 requests relating to permanent and temporary residence.
“When it mattered most, the state digital infrastructure operated stably and reliably,” IDDEEA said, describing election day as one of the most demanding tests of the systems it maintains for the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The agency said the first full use of the new technologies showed the importance of reliable state records, secure data exchange and stable digital infrastructure to the electoral process.
The CEC’s contract for the election technology is worth 74,527,455 Bosnian marks, about 38 million euros, and covers equipment, software, technical support, and the printing and distribution of ballots. The technologies were piloted at the 2024 local elections.
Sources: IDDEEA, Sarajevo Times
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
