Omtatah raises alarm over IEBC’s changes to ballot paper security features

Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has demanded answers from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) over changes to security requirements for ballot papers ahead of the 2027 General Election, questioning whether the revised specifications provide sufficient protection against manipulation.

The concerns remained in focus on Sunday, October 11, 2026, with Omtatah, who leads the National Reconstruction Alliance (NRA), urging the electoral agency to explain how the adjustments will preserve the authenticity and credibility of the voting process.

The changes centre on a September 17 addendum to a ballot-paper supply tender advertised on August 11, 2026.

IEBC described the adjustments as a technical relaxation intended to reduce costs and improve procurement timelines.

Under the changes, printers may use black serial numbers instead of multicoloured numbering, fixed rather than variable guilloche security patterns and micro-text, and embossing without metallic foil stamping.

However, other safeguards, including watermarks, ultraviolet security elements and anti-duplication QR codes, remain mandatory.

“Our concern is not that these changes automatically make ballot papers insecure, but that their cumulative effect has not been demonstrated to preserve equivalent or superior protection,” Omtatah said.

“A ballot paper is not an ordinary commodity,” he added, stressing that voters must be able to trust the materials used to express their political choices.

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Omtatah maintained that reducing procurement expenses should not weaken safeguards designed to protect the electoral process. He argued that the commission must provide a clear technical justification for changing requirements initially considered necessary.

“Cost savings must not undermine other constitutional obligations,” he said.

The senator pointed to constitutional provisions requiring elections to be free, fair, secure, accurate, transparent and verifiable, saying public confidence should take priority throughout preparations for the polls.

He clarified that his concerns did not mean the commission intended to enable electoral malpractice or that any ballot papers had already been compromised.

“We are demanding preventive accountability before potentially consequential decisions become irreversible,” Omtatah said.

His remarks place fresh attention on the standards IEBC will apply when procuring ballot papers for millions of voters in next year’s elections.

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