The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has approved the use of manual voter registration in Kakamega and Makueni counties following the failure of the Kiems Kit.
Eighty-four polling centres in Kibwezi Constituency, Makueni county reported that the Kiems Kit was unable to facilitate voting.
In Kakamega, Kiems Kit of 54 polling stations—including those in the Malava, Matungu, Mumias East, and West constituencies failed.
“Where there is a delay in the opening and interruptions of voting at Polling Stations, the presiding officer shall extend the hours of the polling by the amount of the time lost,” IEBC vice-chair Juliana Cherera said.
The electoral commission claimed that 30 per cent of all registered voters have verified their participation in the election as of noon.
More elections process is alleged to have been postponed as a result of insecurity issues after IEBC officials were caught in the skirmishes while preparing to distribute materials to the polling stations. This caused the transportation of ballot materials to be halted and resulted in the suspension of voting in Eldas, Wajir county.
The electoral body says that voting will continue after the crisis has been resolved.
Elsewhere, a road accident involving commission officials from Turkana Central Constituency, Turkana county, the Presiding Officer, and 2 clerks from Kalakol Wards resulted in the officials’ being replaced so they could rest.
There have also been reports of security incidents in the Daadab constituency; the commission has failed to open the Maguto and Bakin primary schools, BahaJo Borehole and Kot-kot Borehole.
According to Cherera, the commission is resolving any problems that Returning and Presiding Officers have raised with the Kiems Kit through its ICT department.
However, there are still few votes cast per polling centres as reported by various political and voters’ classes.
Electoral bodies insist that every polling centre has a backup of up to six Kiems Kits to increase efficiency and reduce long queues.