ECJ denies selling voter data access
Published:Monday | March 28, 2022 | 12:08 AM
The Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) has denied as false claims in a Sunday Gleaner article that it has sold voter data access, but the national election authority did not say it had not collected money from credit bureaus and financial institutions for services rendered.
In a media statement issued Sunday, the ECJ said it was dismayed by the article.
The Sunday Gleaner article, which quoted extensively from written responses provided by the ECJ, revealed that the ECJ collected approximately $300,000 between 2019 and 2021 under two contracts it has with credit bureaus providing an online service for the authentication of voter ID cards, with data restricted to that presented on the cards.
The article also disclosed, based on figures provided by the ECJ, that it collected almost $1 million from eight financial institutions under similar arrangements over the same period.
In its response Sunday, the ECJ said it wasn’t making a profit from the arrangements.
“The fee that is charged to these institutions in need of verifying electors’ card information is the actual cost for maintenance of this replica database and not a scheme for the ECJ/EOJ to be profiteering from the personal information of its stakeholders,” said the ECJ.
It also noted: “The ECJ/Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) does not sell access nor has it granted access to the elector registration voter identification database, which includes electors’ biometric and demographic information.”
According to the ECJ, the EOJ has created an extract of the identification card database for the purpose of ID verification that is granted to mainly government-regulated institutions. This is consistent with what the ECJ told The Sunday Gleaner and what was reported in the article.
“This database utilised by these entities, of electors’ voter ID card information, assists with authentication of voter ID cards which are required by these entities to be presented by the elector who owns the card and therefore necessitates authorisation, which requires the verification of the information of the EOJ identification service,” the ECJ reiterated in its media statement.
The elector registration identification card issued by the EOJ bears the elector’s name, height, sex, date of birth, a section for any distinguishing marks, the elector’s registration number, and the elector’s signature.
According to Section 2 of Jamaica’s Data Protection Act, biometric data are defined as “any information relating to the physical, physiological or behavioural characteristics of that individual and include “physical characteristics such as the photograph or other facial image, fingerprint, height, and behavioural characteristics such as a person’s gait, signature, key strokes or voice”, among other things.
When provided with the definition of biometric data last week by The Gleaner and asked if it accepts that it had granted third-party access to the biometric data of voters, the ECJ offered this response: “No. It is the holder of the card who grants and authorises the entity to check and ensure that the card is genuine by presenting his/her voter ID to the entity and giving it their unique identifier number without which access to the replica card cannot be done.”
In its media statement Sunday, the ECJ said it was necessary to offer paid access to financial institutions and credit bureaus because the “EOJ voter ID card is regarded as the national ID card and is widely used across the country for opening bank accounts, collecting remittances, and facilitating access to loans at a number of entities”.
The ECJ also stated that its voter ID card, “like many other forms of identification in Jamaica, requires corroboration by the responsible organisation which houses and maintains such a database”.
The ECJ sought to assure all electors that it prided itself highly on its integrity and professionalism as the responsible entity in maintaining the country’s voters’ list and would not prejudice that trust.
“We remain committed to the implementation of free and fair elections in Jamaica and to the protection of all electors’ data, ensuring the identity of each elector,”the ECJ said.
At least one attorney-at-law who specialises in compliance with privacy laws believes that the ECJ is breaching voters’ constitutional right to privacy as well as the tenets of the Data Protection Act.
“… The citizens’ elector ID card should only be processed for the purposes of giving effect to the objectives stated in law – safeguarding the democratic foundations of Jamaica by enabling eligible electors to elect, through free and fair elections, their representatives to govern Jamaica. If an elector ID card is being processed for any other purpose outside of the stated objective, it is unlawful,” said Chukwuemeka Cameron, attorney and CEO of Design Privacy.
However, Dr Lloyd Barnett, one of Jamaica’s leading constitutional lawyers, does not believe that the ECJ is breaking the law.
“Based on what they have said, there is no breach. It depends on what’s made available … . There is a distinction between personal information and certain biometric data that are sensitive such as fingerprints,” said Barnett.