In a historic effort to modernize its Electoral Roll, Bolivia conducted a Biometric Registration Process from early August until October 2009 using cutting-edge technology. This initiative is unprecedented in this South American country.

The Bolivian National Electoral Court (or CNE, from its acronym in Spanish) selected a subsidiary of the Japanese multinational NEC Corporation, NEC Argentina, to carry out the project. In addition, the project planners decided to rely on Smartmatic’s technology and professional support in order to guarantee high-quality results and reliable delivery times.

The Biometric Registration project was aimed at completely rebuilding the country’s voter database, additionally providing it with transparency and security. All Bolivian citizens over 18 years of age had to attend the registration centers to have all their personal information entered into the system, consisting of both biographical (such as name, address, education level, family, etc.) and biometric image data (such as fingerprints, digital photographs and signature).

Smartmatic’s contribution to the Bolivian electoral registration project included thousands of units of its advanced equipment for the registration stations, and training courses for the National Electoral Court‘s staff. Moreover, our company was in charge of overseeing the event’s logistics and equipment, and also the staff distribution across the different Regional Electoral Courts and in Registration centers abroad.

In its final report about the Observation Mission in Bolivia, the Carter Center found out that "the biometric registry was conducted in a peaceful environment, characterized by high levels of citizen participation, and that Bolivia’s electoral legislation and constitution provide an adequate legal framework for a voter registration process consistent with Bolivia’s international commitments."