Bolivia’s biometric voter registration, 2009: Stages

The biometric voter registration in Bolivia aimed to include all able citizens of voting age in databases that would be used for the Presidential Elections on December 2009.

The CNE’s target was to register around 60,000 people every day. The registration process consisted of three phases:

Stage one – biometrics

The first phase entailed capturing voter’s biometric data. Staff scanned their current ID card then took a digital photo of their face. They then took the person’s fingerprints and scanned their signature, before securely storing the information.

Stage two – biographical data

During the second stage, the operator asked people for their biographical details, such as full name, current address, education level and profession.

Stage three – verification

Finally, the citizen verified that all the information in the printed receipt was correct and suitable for approval by the registration centre’s authorities. All this took an average of just three minutes.