Uganda poll officials resort to manual register as biometric machines fail

Uganda vote.

A polling assistant confirms a voter's identity using the biometric voter identification machine in Bwebajja during the Uganda election on January 14, 2020. PHOTO | MORGAN MBABAZI

Voting in Uganda’s presidential and parliamentary elections on Thursday faced hitches as some biometric voter identification machines failed.

Electoral Commission spokesperson Paul Bukenya said they have “had issues with the biometric machines” and the electoral body has directed presiding officers to “put the machines aside.”