IEBC Explains Why Voters Are Seeing ‘N/A’ in Polling Station and Stream Details

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has clarified why some voters are seeing 'Not Applicable (N/A)' in the polling station and stream sections when verifying their registration details. 

In a communication on Tuesday, April 7, the commission explained that the 'N/A' status appears because the voter registration exercise is still ongoing. 

According to IEBC, at this stage, voters are already captured in the system, but the allocation of specific polling stations and streams has not yet been finalized.

The commission explained that once the voter registration process concludes, all registration and polling centres will be organized into streams. 

Each of the streams will accommodate a maximum of 700 voters.

"The Final Register will be published with your specific polling station and stream number," the commission stated.

This comes days after IEBC clarified who is required to register afresh as voters following the 2012 biometric voter registration rollout.

In a statement on Saturday, April 4, the commission addressed the confusion by explaining that not all voters who registered before 2012 are required to register again.

"Should those who registered before 2012 as voters need to register afresh? Not at all unless they did not register as voters from 2012 when the new Register of Voters (ROV) was established under the new Constitution of Kenya 2010 and boundaries delimitation of 2012," the statement read.

IEBC further explained the transition from the manual system to a biometric one and why fresh registration was necessary at the time.

"Because before 2012, the ROV was manual. In 2012, it went biometric, and so all eligible Kenyans were required to enrol and their Biometrics captured. This is the ROV that has been in place since 2013," the statement added.

IEBC also highlighted the current status of the voter register, noting its accuracy and the number of registered voters as of the last General Election.

"As of the 2022 General Election, the Commission maintained an accurate and audited register comprising 22,120,458 voters," the statement further read.

IEBC noted that only a small group of Kenyans are required to register afresh, specifically those who may have missed the 2012 biometric registration and have not enrolled since.

"So we have not asked all old voters pre-2012 to register a fresh one. Just those few who might have missed registering in 2012 and who, subsequently, have never registered under the Biometric system to date," the statement concluded.